


Go Get Your Hart

by Rhuckleberry



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: College!AU, F/M, a lot of disney characters that I am too lazy to tag rn, auslly, i will do it tomorrow, lucaya - Freeform, rangerhuckleberry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:37:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4121470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhuckleberry/pseuds/Rhuckleberry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The College AU that no one asked for in which there is: as many Disney characters as I could fit into one fic, Seddie, Auslly, laundry! Also, a Lucaya shipper at every turn, Missy Bradford and Lucas Friar Brotp, a lot of metaphors, a lot of romcom-esque moments and Maya Hart being compared to Rapunzel! Plus more to come!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Go Get Your Hart

**—————————–**

“I will say this one more time.” Lucas says evenly, jaw clenched tight as he looks at the girl sitting across from him. She doesn’t even bother to take her eyes off her cell phone,just continues tweeting as if he isn’t even speaking. “I. Am not. Dating. Maya.”

 

Missy snorts spectacularly, “Yeah, o _h_ -kaaay, Friar. You keep telling yourself that.  _Maybe_ you’ll convince the freshmen.”

 

She tilts her head towards the small group girls in the corner of the coffee shop, and it was only then that Lucas noticed that they are looking their way. He blinks at them and they all titter and whisper and blush and Lucas looks away quickly because that will never  _not_ be weird.

 

“How do you know they’re freshmen?” Lucas asks in bewilderment, because they don’t _look_  particularly young to him. But Missy just scoffs, uncrosses her legs just to recross them in the opposite direction and swipes her index finger widely across the touch screen of her phone.

 

“Please.” Missy says simply and Lucas rolls his eyes because he  _knows_ he’s not getting anything more than that out of her. He knows this because he has somehow gotten to _know_ Missy Bradford. He knows that she always insists on going to the same Starbucks after her Psychology (And his Philosophy) class, he knows that she only  _really_ likes the Disney movies in which there are princesses that go out and get what they want, and he knows that her mother is apart of the country club back in Orange County and that Mrs. Lane (nee Bradford) brings home a new man to introduce her to every time Missy goes home (which is just as nice as it sounds: terrible). He  _also_ knows that she will always insist on sitting in the neon pink armchair whenever they come to the coffee shop and he _also_ knows that if he doesn’t sit in the pink chair directly opposite of her (which was  _one_ time, and he had to  _go_!) for at least half an hour, she won’t talk to him for a few days. 

_Somehow_ he hasspent pretty much everyday at college speaking to her or seeing her because, well. 

 

They went to the same high school.

 

“Missy.” Lucas says steadily and she still does not look up at him, just hums distractedly in response as she takes a delicate sip from her frappacino. “You knew me during high school.”

 

“You two were dating then too.” Missy says decisively as she flicks her brown hair out of her eyes, and Lucas’ eye twitches.

 

“ _No_ , Missy.  _No_ , we were not-”

 

“You went with her to prom.” Missy points out and Lucas sputters.

 

“As  _friends_. Her date canceled-” Lucas defends and Missy swiftly licks whip cream off her top lip.

 

“Your promposal made Mathews cry.”

 

“Riley cries at  _everything_ -” 

 

“Didn’t you bring her back to Texas with you two summers ago?” Missy asks with a raised brow. She smiles at something on her phone and starts typing again.

 

“Yeah, but-”

 

“You didn’t bring Mathews.” She adds, and that’s not  _fair_ because-

 

“That’s because her dad said  _no_ -”

 

“You didn’t bring,  _Zay_ , and he’s  _from_ there.”

 

Lucas opens his mouth to speak but…well he doesn’t know what to say to that. 

 

He just  _wanted_ to bring Maya, okay? That doesn’t mean anything.

 

Missy glances up then, her brown eyes twinkling in fondly as she shakes her head in amusement.

 

“Admit it, Friar. You’re in love.” Missy says softly and her lips twist into something sympathetic and kind. Lucas gapes, shakes his head and she laughs. “There’s nothing _wrong_  with that.”

 

“No, there  _isn’t_ \- It’s just that - I’m  _not_.” Lucas stutters, and Missy rolls her eyes fondly. “I’m _not_ , when are you going to  _believe_ me-”

 

“What are we talking about?” Billy asks as he comes up behind Missy, rubbing his hands warmly over her arms and giving her a quick kiss. Missy smiles brightly.

 

“Hey, baby. Nothing much really, just talking about Lucas and his girlfriend.” Missy says with a smirk and a pointed look at Lucas and -

 

“Oh, how is Hart?” Billy asks as he sits down beside his girlfriend, snatches her frappacino and takes a long draw from the green straw. “Still cracking skulls and taking names?”

 

Lucas sighs the sigh of the long suffering and slumps over, elbows on his knees and shoulders drooped in defeat. Missy cackles, and Lucas looks up at her through his bangs.

 

“I’ll believe you when  _that_ ,” Missy points at Billy and smiles as Billy looks back at her in confusion. “Stops happening.” 

 

“You just pointed at me when you said ‘ _that_ ’. Why did you point at me when you said ‘ _that_ ’? What did I  _do_?”

————————

 

“You,” Olive says with a wrinkle of her nose, reaching out a cold hand to ruffle his hair. Lucas twists away and nearly falls into a high pile of snow. “ _Need_ a haircut.”

 

“I don’t have  _time_ , Olive.” Lucas huffs, pulling the collar of his coat up higher against the cold wind. “I have two essays due next week and a test in two days. I barely have time to _eat_.”

 

Olive looks at him critically for a moment, eyeing him up and down before cocking her head. She’s only sixteen and she’s small and blonde and wears knit hats that are rainbow patterned and about two sizes too big for her head. Her attitude and physical attributes remind him of Maya sometimes but everything else about her screams Farkle and she’ is easily the smartest person in his World History class. Apparently she went to some fancy elite school before she got here and, because of that, she thinks she knows everything.

 

Lucas still likes her though.

 

“Isn’t your ex-girlfriend supposed to be showing up this weekend?” Olive asks as she pulls down her knit hat. She blinks snow from her eyelashes as rubs at her red nose with her coat sleeve.

 

“She’s not my ex.” Lucas says with a roll of his eyes and Olive looks like he just told her it was Christmas. “ _Or_ my girlfriend.”

 

Olive pouts until they get to the west wing doors. Lucas opens the door for her because her hands are bare and have also been clenched in fist since she ruffled them through his hair. He’s not sure she  _could_ uncurl them if she wanted to.

 

“Well, interesting factoid,” Olive says through chattering teeth and Lucas looks down at her as he stomps his running shoes on the wet mat at the door. Olive winces at him. “You might want to cut your hair before your  _not_ -girlfriend gets here.”

 

Lucas narrows his eyes at her. “That’s not a fact.”

 

Olive shrugs. “Yeah, but it’s the truth.” 

 

She moves swiftly, rushes his vulnerable neck with her fingers. They’re as cold as death. Lucas yelps and shudders, rubbing at the place she touched to surge warmth back into it. Olive smiles sweetly, and it is that moment that Alex comes through the door after them, stomps off her boots and glances up at him only to frown.

 

“Didn’t your girlfriend tell you that you needed a haircut?” She asks as she shakes the snow out of her dark hair with her bare fingers. After she’s done she flicks the water off her fingers into his face with a smile.

 

God is he glad he doesn’t have a younger sister.

——————————-

“So, how long have you two been a thing?”

 

Lucas blinks. Looks up from his paper up to his TA in confusion as the guy smiles at him slyly. Lucas furrows his brow for a moment. “I’m sorry?”

 

Mr. Benson (”Call me Freddie.”) smiles before nodding his head to the Photo Essay Lucas holds in his hands. The bright 98% in the top corner of the still makes Lucas’ stomach jump and the back of his neck flush, even after staring at it for almost a minute while Freddie was speaking. “The girl in the photos.”

 

Lucas blinks, remembers the candid pictures of Maya littered through the essay, the ones of her in her lucky denim painting shirt that is two sizes to big for her, the ones of her in front of her art that hung high and proud in the middle of the gallery. The abstracts of paint splatters over the bridge of her nose, of clay caught in long blonde hair, of lead smudged finger tips and palms.

 

The object of the assignment was to demonstrate beauty. Maya  _created_ beauty, made art for all to see, art that was displayed in galleries and got praised by critics and got fawned over by audiences all while Lucas went to school for  _god even knows what_ , all while he took  _world history_.

 

Maya created art outside of her body that reflected how beautiful she was inside of her body. And he was allowed to think she was beautiful without it meaning anything. He thought Riley was beautiful and it didn’t mean anything. 

 

Lucas swallowed hard. “We weren’t…we’re  _not_ sir.”

 

Freddie raised a brow. 

 

“Yeah?” Freddie asked and Lucas nodded. 

 

Freddie pulled the essay from Lucas’ hands, flipped to the page displaying a picture of Maya from behind, her tiny frame only taking up a small portion of the photo. There were long grey socks on her thin legs, the left one falling down significantly. She’s wearing her lucky denim painting shirt and her hair is in a tangled mess behind her. She has a paint brush forever paused in her hand, fingers speckled with paint as she draws a wide arc of yellow acrylic  paint over her head. She works on a canvas so massive that she’s on her tip toes just to reach the top of it, and it pretty much engulfs all the space around her except for the the very edges of the photograph through which you can see the floor to ceiling windows of Maya’s studio. Through them the sun is setting beautifully, the rays light slipping into the studio, the pinkness of the sky visible through the peaks of city landscape.

 

Lucas could lie and say that that one was his favorite but the truth is that they’re  _all_ his favorite. 

 

After all, it’s  _Maya_.

 

“Well better get on that then.” Freddie says lightly and Lucas blinks up at him in confusion. 

 

“Sir?” Lucas asks, and Freddie smiles kindly, taps his finger against the picture gently.

 

“I know I thing or two about looking at girls you have feelings for through a lens. I did it for years.” Freddie says softly and Lucas blinks, because he honestly doesn’t think he’s talked to his photography teacher for this long before, and he didn’t know that about him, doesn’t know anything about him. “And let me tell you Mr. Friar,” Freddie smiles, looking contented and a bit enamored as he hands the paper back. “It’s so much better to be on the other side of that camera.  _With_ her.”

 

Lucas blinks, and he doesn’t know what to say, because that was a really nice sentiment but he and Maya  _aren’t like that_. But before he can break it to the man gently, Freddie’s phone buzzes and he curses, looking at the time and presumably reading a text.

 

“Gotta go kid. Great job on the essay!” Freddie says as he rushes Lucas out of the class and then basically bolts down the hall muttering something about ‘she’s going to kill me’. 

 

Lucas makes it outside just in time to see his TA flip up the visor on female a motorcyclist’s helmet, watches in surprise as the rather conservative man kisses a blonde girl in a leather jacket. The blonde punches him in the shoulder after and Freddie Benson is still shaking the pain of his shoulder as he climbs on the back of her motorcycle. 

 

Lucas blinks as they zoom away brow the street, before remembering that other essay he still had to edit and shuffling off through the snow as fast as he can.

—————————–

On Thursdays Lucas plays basketball, which is usually both the best and the most annoying part of his week.

 

“So, you’re dating.” 

 

“No.”

 

“So she broke up with you?”

 

“No.”

 

“So  _you_ broke up with  _her_?”

 

“Austin!” Lucas snaps to his roommate and Austin blinks over from where he’s showing off for his girlfriend, even though Ally is currently determinedly composing another piece in the gyms bleachers. Austin still shows off for her though, shoots his shots from further and further down the gym because, in his words, ‘when she’s looking I’ll look super cool, and she’ll fall in love with me all over again.’

 

Lucas isn’t sure if that’s sweet or…

 

Well no, it’s most likely very sweet.

 

Dez Wade, however, is not. At least not majority of the time.

 

Austin jogs over to them, looks between the two for a moment before settling on Lucas and his raised eyebrow.

 

“Yeah?” Austin asks brightly and Lucas nods to Dez, who’s in a unitard for some reason (something about ‘sports attire’) and a helmet, and Lucas likes him just fine (when he’s _not_ badgering him about dating one of his best friends) but they’re playing  _basketball_.

 

“Will you please, tell Dez for the hundredth time that me and Maya are not dating? He only ever listens to you.” Lucas begs and Austin turns to Dez, lays a hand on his best friend’s shoulder and squeezing gently until Dez looks him in the eye.

 

“Dez.” Austin says weightily, looking at his friend with an almost solemn expression. “I _told_ you, they’re on a break. Don’t bring it up.”

 

“Austin!” Lucas says in exasperation as Dez looks at his friend like  _everything suddenly makes sense_. Austin looks at Lucas in surprise.“You’re my roommate, you’ve  _met_  Maya, you’ve  _seen_ me skype her, you  _know_ we’re not dating or on a break or  _anything_!” 

 

There’s a sound from across the gym and Lucas looks over to see Ally, stumbling slowly and distractedly across the gym in their direction not unlike a zombie. Her eyes have not left the composition sheet, just as they have failed to since Lucas saw her this _morning_ (and even then, that was only so she could put her contacts in). She moves in starts and stops, and sways in a zig zag pattern and Lucas remembers that the poor girl has been working on this piece day and night, trying desperately to get it right, and scratching out notes and putting new ones in. She’s practically dead on her feet, with light purple bags beneath her eyes and sallowness to her skin.

 

Lucas shoots Austin a look and Austin only sighs looking slightly upset. 

 

“I’ve  _tried_ to get her to sleep but she won’t until she’s finished,  _trust me_. I’ll be right back.” He mutters before jogging across the gym to his girlfriend, resting his hands on her thin shoulders and gently pushing her the rest of the way to them. Ally pats Austin’s hand absentmindedly in thanks as she stares deeply at the composition sheet, lips twisted in frustration. Austin get’s Ally all the way across the room, sighs and kisses the top of her head when they have stopped moving. Ally blinks in surprise and looks up, smiling at Austin affectionately.

 

“Thanks Austin.” She says brightly and Austin absolutely  _preens_. Ally grins, wraps her arm around his neck and kisses him on the cheek with a loud smack before turning to Lucas and handing him his phone. “It’s been going off like crazy.”

 

“Thanks Ally,” Lucas smiles as he takes the device, flips it on to check his messages.

 

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**  Look what I made.

 

And Lucas scrolls down, looks at the monumentally ugly stuffed animal in Maya’s picture. It’s burgundy with dark purple spots and looks like it might have had a bad run in with a cat or something. It has big googly eyes and tufts of fur sticking out and ears longer than it’s body. All topped off by sewed on smile that is nothing short of terrifying.

 

Lucas’ grin almost hurts because it’s so wide, and he only keeps from laughing out loud by biting his cheek.

 

Maya Hart may be making her way into the art scene but make no mistake:She can’t sew to save her life.

 

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**   I did it in couples art class with Rily

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**  U like?

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:** His names is Boogley. he’s Oogley’s estranged half cousin, twice removed.

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**  Guess who it’s 4, Huckleberry.

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**  *Hint* U. I’m bringing it in my suitcase. I plan to scare children with it on the plane in your honor.

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:** UR welcome.

 **CLUTTERBUCKETT:**  Btw U get the privilege of c-ing my face in less than 24 hrs. UR welcome 4 that 2.

 

“You see?” Austin says to Ally as he rests his chin on top of her head, wraps his arms around his girlfriend’s shoulders. “How am I supposed to believe they’re not dating if every time he gets a message from her he looks like  _that_?”

————————-

On Friday Lucas comes into World History with his hair trimmed neatly and it’s  _not_ because of what Olive said, it’s because Maya teased him about the length of it all night on Skype yesterday and he really didn’t feel like continuing that line of conversation when she got here later.

 

But despite him telling Olive this, and her nodding with a smirk the whole way through the conversation, the moment Alex walks sleepily up the stairs of the lecture hall and spots him, it’s all over.

 

Alex literally cackles for about ten minutes, calls him whipped more times than he can count and then demands to meet the girlfriend so that she can ‘shake the hand of the woman who holds his manhood’.

 

Yup, so glad he’s sisterless.

———————————-

Picking up Maya from the airport is the one thing that he religiously looks forward to at the end of the month.

 

Lucas knows how it sounds.  _It’s not like that._

 

It’s just that Lucas will get there and he’ll stand in the line where everybody is waiting for their families, and he’ll hold up a neatly drawn up sign with the word CLUTTERBUCKETT on it in whatever colour is Maya’s favorite that week. And Maya will see it and her whole face willl light up and she’ll scrunch up her nose at him in greeting and start pulling her suitcase faster in his direction and Lucas will honestly feel like it’s _his_ family coming home, that something he’s been missing is  _finally_ coming back to him and-

 

It’s really just the best day of the month honestly.

 

Lucas looks at the time and grabs his keys from the library table, pulls his bookbag onto his shoulder and is about to say goodbye to Rebel but he doesn’t get the chance.

 

“You gonna go get your Hart?” Rebel asks without looking up from the biology book in his hands, says it easy and passingly like it’s nothing and Lucas, Lucas is about to correct him, tell him that Maya is not  _his_ , that  _they’re not like that_ but he doesn’t have _time_.

 

“Yeah, Rebel. I’ll see you next Friday.” He says shortly as he turns and rushes out of the library, feet moving fast because  _Maya_ is coming, thank  _god_.

—————————————–

And everything goes according to plan at the airport, the sign and the suitcase and the nose scrunching. And as usual, half way to Lucas’ side, Maya drops her suitcases and runs at him, jumping into his arms like some kind of demented kangaroo and wrapping her arms and legs around him and squeezing tight.

 

And she still uses the same shampoo so her hair smells the same, and her sweater is softer than anything he’s felt in exactly a month, and it’s  _Maya_.

 

He’s home.

 

“Missed you Shortstack.” Lucas says shyly as she nudges her with his elbow, her suitcases trailing behind him and her gift (that horrible, horrible, stuffed animal) tucked into the hood of his sweater. Maya smiles brightly at him and flips her hair.

 

“Oh, I know.”

 

Lucas laughs.

————————

“Awwwwww… _look_ Huckleberry!” Maya coos and Lucas looks around the door over her head, sees the forms of Austin and Ally in Austin’s bed. They’re both sound asleep, Ally’s dark under eye circles fading slowly, Austin’s blonde head is a mess.

 

Austin is the little spoon.

 

Something about little Ally’s arms around her boyfriend’s torso and her little head poking up from Austin’s shoulder makes Lucas’ heart melt a little bit more. He rests his chin on top of Maya’s head as they watch the two quietly, inhaling the scent of peaches and cream from her hair.

 

“We  _can’t_ wake them.” Maya says lowly, and Lucas nods his chin gently into her head. “Ranger, your roommate is so cute, look at his little face!”

 

Lucas grimaces. “ _Gross_.”

 

“He’s like a puppy.” Maya whispers gleefully and Lucas begins to push the door closed. “Hey, wait, let’s watch a little more-”

 

“Nope, now you’ve made it weird.”

———————–

“Do you seriously leave all your laundry until I get here just because you know I’ll sit with you while you do it?” Maya asks as she messily fold a T-shirt and Lucas shrugs.

 

“Not  _all_ of it.” Lucas says lightly, nudging Maya’s shoulder with a smile. Maya skids a few feet, giggles as she shoves him back.

 

“You’re such a  _loser_.” Maya coos with exaggerated glee and Lucas goes to shove her again but before he can Maya has jabbed a finger into his side, a place she  _knows_ is damn ticklish and Lucas squirms away from her. Maya laughs as she tosses the shirt into the basket. “What, have you got, like, no friends?”

 

Lucas shakes his head in amusement before turning to Maya with mock solemnness, “None but you.” 

 

Maya raises a brow. “Well aren’t you lucky?”

 

Lucas’ lips twitch. “Very. Speaking of lucky…”

 

Lucas points to Maya then and the lucky denim painting shirt which is forever splattered with paint. This time the paint is white and pale green and Maya looks down at the shirt as if surprised to see it. She tugs at the hem of it, pulling it further passed her knees.

 

“Oh  _this_?” Maya says with feigning nonchalance as she flips her hair. “Well I’m only wearing  _this_ because I’m painting your portrait today.”

 

Lucas smiles slowly and tosses a hastily folded sweater into the laundry basket. “Yeah?”

 

Maya smiles at him fondly, nodding. “Yeah.”

 

“Well this is news to me…” 

 

“Most things are.” Maya says without hesitation and Lucas grins because  _he had that coming._

 

They’re quiet for a moment or two, both folding silently.

 

“Hey, am I ever gonna get that shirt back?” Lucas asks as he looks it over, looks at where the button that popped off it in twelfth grade used to be, studies the small singed hole near the collar from a bonfire during that trip to Texas two summers ago, all along with Maya’s splatters of paint.

 

“Nope.” Maya says easily with a pop of the ‘p’ as she tosses yet another sweater into the basket with both hands. Lucas’ gaze softens impossibly further, and he finds that he doesn’t really mind

 

It looks better on her anyways.

————————–

“Next time, you’re going to come visit me…” Maya murmurs into the dark and Lucas pulls the blanket higher onto her shoulder, shuffles closer to her until he can almost tuck her head under his chin. He doesn’t though, not yet, because Maya’s speaking even if she’s just mumbling tiredly, eyes closed in the dark. Lucas presses his mouth gently to her forehead and breaths her in for a moment. She smells like peaches and cream and acryllic paint and her hand curls tiredly into his t-shirt.

 

Yeah, they sleep together but it’s only because Austin uses the other bed religiously and because once when he tried to sleep on the floor Maya smacked him upside the head and dragged him back into the bed by the collar of his shirt.

 

But it’s  _not like that._

 

Maya huffs hot air into the hollow of his throat as she squirms sleepily.

 

“Why did you go to school so far away Huckleberry?” Maya murmurs and Lucas wraps his arm around her and nuzzles her temple because Maya is always the most vulnerable when she’s tired.

 

And the most honest.

 

“Had to Shortstack…”Lucas whispers gently and Maya tangles her feet with his, rubs her cold toes between his calves. He presses his calves together to catch her cold toes in effort to warm them up, and Maya hums appreciatively. “You know that. Got a full scholarship here.”

 

“Yeah but… one problem.” Maya mumbles, and the coldness of the tip of her nose touches his vulnerable neck. Lucas shivers. “I’m in New York. And you can’t live without _me_.”

 

And Lucas lifts a gentle hand to the back of her head and begins to stroke the hair there softly, and is about to laugh,  _would_ laugh, but then he glances up and sees that terribly ugly stuffed animal.

 

And he remembers getting the picture of it and smiling so much it hurt, he remembers the pictures of Maya, and Freddie Benson’s happy contentment, and the motorcyclist, and the feeling of  _home_ , and the library and-

 

_His **Heart**._

 

Lucas’ eyes widen slowly, millimeter by millimeter and it’s not like a light switch going off but like a flood, a flood of realization, of days just spent with Maya that have been the best of his life, of getting through the trials of every week by thinking about the end of the month, of texts and skype calls that make him smile harder than anything else.

 

He  _could_ live without Maya.

 

But he doesn’t think he ever  _wants_ too.

 

Lucas just lays there in shock for a few moments, slowly pushing Maya’s lolling head into his chest by the gentle hand on the back of her skull. He breaths in the sweet scent of her hair to calm himself, to remember that this is Maya, this isn’t a big deal but-

 

But it is.

 

Because  _it’s Maya_.

 

And it definitely is  _like that._  


	2. Neon Signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The College AU that no one asked for is back and ready to make you feel things! This is a chapter in which there is: a Lucaya shipper at every turn, Missy Bradford and Lucas Friar Brotp, little sisters that nobody asked for, as many Disney characters as I could cram in without making this chapter a mile long (trust me), a lot of metaphors, a romcom-esque pep talk and Maya Hart being compared to Rapunzel. Also, Lucas Friar finally gets his act together! *gasp*

“Okay, pause.” Missy says firmly, her hand held up in a stop motion and Lucas freezes from where he’s been pacing on her dorm floor for the past ten minutes. “So, what’s the problem?”

 

“I’m in love with Maya.” Lucas says slightly breathlessly and his fingers gravitate to his hair to pull on it because  _oh my god_.

 

Missy stares at him for a long moment before arching a brow, her lips slowly curling.

 

“Wait, that’s it?”

 

“ _Missy_!” Lucas hisses in irritation and Missy just starts cackling like she has never cackled before, pulling her floral patterned cell phone out of her pajama shorts. “What are you doing?”

 

“Texting Billy to come over,” Missy says through chuckles, and Lucas rolls his eyes. “Oh, this is too good.”

 

“Why are we friends?” Lucas bemoans frustratedly, and Missy just shakes her head in amusement.

 

“Because you’re an idiot sometimes and I know pretty much everything. Plus you can carry heavy stuff.”

 

  
“ _Billy_ can carry heavy stuff.”

 

  
“Yeah, but he always complains about it.” Missy says with a scrunch of her nose and Lucas looks at her incredulously for a moment because sometimes he questions if she is even real.

 

“Missy.” Lucas says slowly, measuredly as he takes a few steps towards her and stops directly in front of the where she sits crossed legged on her bed. Missy raises an eyebrow at him, rips off a piece of the bagel in her lap and pops it into her mouth. “Help me. Please.”

 

“Nuh-uh,” Missy says with a shake of her head as she chews, her short brown hair swinging around her shoulders. The corner of her lip twitches up into a smirk. “That’s not how we ask for things in this dorm room. Let me hear it. Come on.”

 

Missy makes bring hurrying motions with her hands, the tips of her fingers glistening with butter from her bagel, and her smile curling even as she tries to fold her lips over it. Lucas narrows his eyes at her.

 

“You are enjoying this way too much.” Lucas says flatly and Missy mocks confusion and cups her hand around her ear.

 

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Missy asks with a poor  mimicry of a considering expression. “ _Surely_  not Lucas Friar  _asking_  for something from me. That’s not what  _that_ sounds like.”

 

Lucas’ eyes narrow impossibly further and he begins to grit his teeth.

 

 _Why_ did he come here? 

 

He shifts his eyes around the room to stall, determinedly ignoring Missy lowly humming the jeopardy theme song. His eyes stop on the collage Missy keeps over her bed, a mix match of pictures of her and Billy from the years past, as well as souvenirs from their dates and love notes that Billy has written her and it’s really quite sickening, but Lucas’ heart beats in his throat because, god.

 

He wants that. 

 

Billy and Missy have been together  _forever_ , and there’s got be some secret to it. There has to be.

 

Dammit.

 

“I could ask Ally.” Lucas challenges halfheartedly, because he  _knows_  what he has to do, but this is just a last ditch hope. Missy arches a manicured brow.

 

“And have her tell you to be ‘honest with your feelings’ and ‘tell her how you feel’?” Missy snorts, and rolls her eyes and Lucas grimaces. “No. You’re not doing that. We both know that Friar. Give it up.”

 

Lucas sighs deeply, forever long suffering, and rolls his eyes up to the heavens just so he won’t have to look at Missy’s smug face when he says this.

 

“Missy Bradford is right because she is always right always. I, a Lucas Friar of epic Lucas Friar proportions, should have and should always listen to her always.” 

 

It is silent for so long that Lucas makes the mistake of glancing down, and Jesus. Missy’s grin is curled so wickedly that she bears a startlingly resemblance to the Cheshire cat, with in her violet tank top and, frankly, slightly manic look in her eyes. 

 

“See? Was that so hard?” Missy purrs and Lucas’ face is blank.

 

“Well, it felt as smooth as nails coming out if that’s what you mean.” He deadpans and Missy rolls her eyes.

 

“Oh, hush you. And sit down. You’re making my neck hurt.” Missy sasses with a wave at the fluffy purple bean bag in the corner of her dorm. Lucas, being long since used to this treatment, doesn’t even roll his eyes. He just sits in the designated bean chair obediently, and stares pointedly at Missy as she picks up one of the many pillows on her bed and pulls it into her lap and smiles. She actually waits a few seconds more after that just to torture him, polishing off the rest of her bagel and clapping the crumbs off her hands before speaking. “Okay, here’s my advice,”

 

Missy takes a deep breath and in between those seconds Lucas thinks of Maya, of the way her laugh sounds, of the horribly ugly stuffed animal, of the way she looked when she smiled at him this morning (all tired, and sluggish, and warm). He thinks of  _home_. 

 

And he’s  _terrified_.

 

If he doesn’t do this right he could lose the most important person in his life.

 

“Be honest with your feelings. Tell her how you feel.” Missy says shortly. Then she licks a sesame seed off of her top of a pink lip just leans back and waits, hugs the pillow to her torso and looks at him steadily.

 

And Lucas, Lucas just stares at Missy for so long that his eyes start to dry. He blinks. But Missy is still there looking completely serious and-

 

Anger rushes into Lucas like a freight train because this is not the time to be messing with him-

 

“Missy.” Lucas growls out, and Missy just raises an eyebrow, not the slightest bit worried or intimidated by his anger because she’s  _Missy_. “Don’t mess with me right now. This is important. It’s  _Maya_.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?” Missy asks calmly as she studies her long, purple manicured nails. “Friar, you’ve been in love with Hart for majority of the time I’ve known you and the  _entirety_  of the time that we’ve been friends. She’s  _probably_ the love of your life. She’s  _definitely_  the only one who really gets your dumb sense of humor. Doesn’t she know your favorite sandwich? And you bank passwords? If that doesn’t tell you something then-”

 

“ _Missy_ -”

 

Missy holds up a hand and Lucas mouth clicks shut because four years of anger management through high school did teach him  _some_  self-control. Missy looks at him seriously.

 

“And you love her. You love her so much that it’s written all over your stupid face  _all the time_. It’s like there a huge sign above your head that say ‘alas, I’m in love with another’, or some bullshit but it’s  _honest_. So go be honest.  _Tell her._  She deserves to know and more importantly  _you_ ,” Missy says with a finger pointing directly at Lucas, her eyes firm. “Deserve to tell her. You deserve to have your feeling be known and reciprocated Friar. Because you may be an idiot but you’re a great guy. I should know, I hang around you enough.”

 

Lucas stares at Missy for a long moment, feels the anger seep out of him as fear replaces it like a spike in his blood. He sees Missy and he sees it. He sees the big Sign written all over her face, in the passion that she speaks with, in the affection in her eyes.

 

_Alas I’m in love with another._

 

He wonders briefly how many people have read his Sign through his life. How many people have known that he was in love with Maya before he did.

 

He wonders if Maya knows.

 

“I can’t lose her.” Lucas whispers gently, and his lips twist sadly at the end of the sentence, because the very thought of losing Maya makes him feel like his heart is being squeezed in a fist. She’s the one who he goes to talk to first whenever something big happens and the one who listens to him complain about useless things. It feels like Maya has always been there, just a present part of his life and he doesn’t want to be without her. He doesn’t want to push her away.  

 

And Lucas feels his fear like a palpable thing, and it must show on his face because Missy’s expression  softens.  

 

“Is it possible that I love her too much to  _tell_  her I love her?” Lucas asks breathlessly, because he honestly kind of feels like he might throw up. 

 

Missy just watches him for a long moment before tossing her pillow across the room and opening her arms, both hands waving towards her once again. “C’mere idiot.” 

 

And Lucas gets up from his beanbag chair, walks over to Missy’s bed and flops down into it beside her. He allows Missy to tuck his head into the crook of his neck and gently comb her fingers through the hair at the back of his head, breathes in the familiar scent of her Dove body mist. 

 

“Listen, dummy. She  _loves_  you. She would never leave you even if she doesn’t love you _like that_ , which I doubt because, have you seen the way she is with you? It’s like she brightens up. Like when she was with Mathews all the time only different, because you two are different.  _She’s_  Maya and  _you’re_  Lucas and you’re probably, maybe soul-mates. Like the real stuff. Not the stuff that people take instagram pictures about at the beach with their footprints in the sand and a heart drawn around it-” 

 

And Lucas’ lips twitch at the disdain in Missy’s voice as she scoffs and as she rants and rants his heart gradually calms. Soon it feels just like every other Saturday that Lucas comes to bring Missy breakfast, and Lucas forgets for a moment. Not that he’s in love with his best friend but that he has to  _do_  something about it. 

 

It’s nice. 

 

And when Billy comes into the room to find Missy and Lucas trying to toss bits of the second bagel into their mouths, he just squints at them for a long time, doorknob still in hand, door still open behind him. 

 

“You know that she’s  _my_ girlfriend right?” Billy says with a jokingly arched brow and Lucas makes a face that he can see mirrored on Missy’s own face.  

 

And Billy laughs at their unison of “Ew, Bill, it’s Missy.” and “Don’t be gross, he’s like my  _baby brother_ ,” for an inappropriately long time. They throw pillow at him until he’s too busy dodging to even chuckle.

 

————————————————–

 

Lucas never realized what just how much he enjoyed just  _seeing_  Maya meant until he realized he was in love with her.  

 

He never knew that watching her from afar like this, that observing her as she stared out at the falling snow and scribbled various things in her sketchbook and just being completely content to just sit here and do this for hours might not be a completely platonic thing. He had never done this with Farkle and definitely never with Riley but when it came to Maya and the serenity on her face when she was drawing or the frustration on it when she was reaching for something on a high shelf, well, Lucas couldn’t help but watch.  

 

And he feels privileged just to be allowed to do that because Maya is beautiful and dynamic and intriguing and he has always thought that that was just Maya’s effect on people. That everyone looked at her and just wanted to  _keep_ looking at her as long as they could. That everyone wanted to be with her and just  _keep being with her_  for as long as she’s let them.  

 

He’s beginning to realize that that’s not the case. 

 

And the fact that he honestly can’t understand why people wouldn’t react to Maya the way he does has got to say something too. Because he’s beginning to realize that he’s always felt this way.  

 

He’s an idiot. God, Missy’s right.  

 

Lucas cringes. That sentence felt just as bad jumping around his mind as if did coming out of his mouth. 

 

Lucas sits in his car and watches Maya on the steps of the Robotics department building, head tilted up to the cloudy skies as she considers a nearby tree (a thin excuse for one, spindly and frail looking. But he can understand Maya’s interest in it because it’s still standing, even under the weight of the thick blanket of snow over its branches, even as it tilts onto its side. It’s resilient.), and glasses falling slightly down her nose. Maya wears her glasses so rarely that whenever she does Lucas is tempted to look at her more than he already does, which is ridiculous because he already studies her way to much, knows every freckle, birthmark, and unconscious habit Maya has by heart. 

 

And as Maya sits there, small in a downy jacket that so puffy it makes her look a bit like a marshmallow, creating art with small hands, Lucas remembers the  _Maya Hart Box Theory_ , and his lips twitch into a smile.

 

When Lucas was in high school he created the Maya Hart Box Theory in passing, something that he just considered to himself and no one else. He had not even told Maya, and honestly didn’t think he ever would. It was silly.

 

The Maya Hart Box Theory was this. Wherever Maya went, whether it be a coffee shop or a soccer field or even her studio, wherever it was Maya would effortlessly fill the entirety of it like it was a _physical box_ that she could collect things in. And she would stock the box with more things every minute she was present, with little details of her like her smiles and her compassion and her humor. She would fill up the space until the only thing it consisted of was  _her_ , the only thing that mattered was  _her_  and  _that_  was why Lucas couldn’t look away why people gravitated to Maya like magnets why Lucas wanted to touch her at whatever opportunity.  _It was the Box Theory._

 

The Box Theory wasn’t intentional on Maya’s part of course of course. It just happened to be that Maya Hart was too big for her body _(Maya’s heart_  was too big for her body), so she had to seep into everything else just to make up for what she lacked in physical size, just to big as big on the outside as she was on the inside.

 

And sometimes, times like this (when Maya makes art with small hands and looks at the world as if it is an endlessly beautiful thing) Lucas could swear that the  _whole world_  was The Box and that Maya was just filling it all up, making it so there was no room for anything else but her.

 

And Lucas was beginning to think that maybe he was The Box. That maybe all these years, all this time, Maya had been filling him up without him noticing it.

 

Shit.

 

Lucas beeps the horn hastily before he can thing about that too much, and Maya jumps in surprise, turns around to look at him with a hand clutching her chest and eyes wide in betrayal. Lucas tries to grin wryly, tries to be normal and desperately, desperately tries to hide his Sign.

————————————————————————-

“You have to tell her this weekend Lucas.” Missy says as he grabs his keys to on his way out the room and Lucas’ eyes widen.

 

“What?” Lucas sputters, startled, “ _This_ weekend? But-”

 

“Friar, you can’t do this over skype. Or text. She’s leaving  _tomorrow_. If you’re going to tell someone you love them, tell them to their face.” Missy says firmly and Billy just points at her in agreement as he chews, the tips of his fingers orange with Cheeto cheese that he promptly begins to suck off. Missy wrinkles her nose at him in disgust. “Why are we together again?”

 

Billy just waggles his eyebrows at her, his cheeks all puffed out full of chips and Missy’s smile at him is tender and Lucas can see it, her Sign like it’s outlined in glowing neon lights over her and his stomach twists because god, does he look like that? And before Lucas can think back to and run over every single time he’s ever smiled at Maya in his mind, his phone beeps impatiently and reminds him to go and pick up the girl in question. Lucas leaves the room with nothing a slightly panicked wave over his shoulder and a short ‘bye’ knowing that Billy and Missy are probably going to make out or something after the door shuts.

 

At least they waited for him to leave this time.

————————————————-

“Hey Ranger!” Maya says brightly as she drops herself heavily into the passenger seat of Lucas’ corolla, panting slightly from running all the way to the car. She pulls her glasses off of her face and shoves them into the glove compartment before tossing her sketchbook into the general direction of the back seat. Lucas catches the book just before it can hit the slush on the mat on the floor of his car, and gives Maya a slightly dirty look as he pointedly puts the book carefully on the dashboard. Maya rolls her eyes, lips twitching into a smile. “I swear you’re more into my art than anybody else.”

 

“That’s because it’s art and it does not deserve to be tossed around my car like garbage.” Lucas sasses with mock haughtiness as he carefully pulls out of the Robotics department parking lot, and Maya laughs and shakes her head, her cold red nose scrunching up in her humor. Her nose matches the red knit hat she has on her head along with the finger-less gloves on her hands. “And also, put on your seatbelt, I am not going to jail for you. Well…at least not again.”

 

Maya’s grin is absolutely devious as she waggles her eyebrows at him and hums in nostalgia. She buckles her seat belt, her big blue downy jacket bulging around the belts band. “That was a good summer.”

 

“No it wasn’t Maya. We got arrested!” Lucas says with a sputtered laugh and Maya snickers as Lucas takes his eyes off the road briefly to shoot her a look. “We’re lucky we didn’t get a criminal record.”

 

“Well, that’s not the only thing lucky about our prison trip.” Maya says brightly and Lucas smiles softly in remembrance.

 

“’Paper Bars’?” He asks and Maya nods, smiling softly.

 

“’Paper Bars’. That trip to the slammer inspired one of my favorite art pieces that I’ve ever done, so yes.  _Good summer_ Huckleberry.” Maya says resolutely with a fond smile and Lucas just smiles to himself a moment and then shrugs.

 

“Okay.” He says easily as he makes a careful turn around a high mound of snow Maya nods. “That’s one of my favorite pieces by you too by the way. It was amazing to watch you do it.”

 

“I sold it.”

 

“You what?!” Lucas asks in surprise and he nearly swerves the car out of control but clutches the wheel tightly with both hands. Maya shrugs. “Maya, you love that painting.”

 

“Sometimes you have to let things go.” Maya says with a shrug and Lucas pulls to a stop at a red light and just stares her for a long moment in stunned wonderment, so long that Maya huffs. “I needed the money.”

 

“You could have borrowed from me.”

 

“Lucas I’m not going to take your money.” Maya says seriously with a firm shake of her head and Lucas’ hands tighten on the wheel.

 

“You wouldn’t be taking it, I would be giving it to you.” He points out, and Maya shakes her head more firmly.

 

“That still involves me taking it.”

 

“Maya.” Lucas says sadly, and Maya turns to look at him. “You  _love_  that painting.”

 

“And now,” Maya says softly, as shrugs once again. “ _Someone else_  can.”

 

The car behind them honks loudly and Lucas scrambles to go through the now green light. Lucas frowns, unsure how to feel as he drives forward and Maya huffs a laugh.

 

“Huckleberry, I’m an artist. I can’t keep everything I make otherwise I won’t make any profit, and I’ll be broke, and then how will I pay for my plane tickets to come see you?” Maya points out and Lucas may or may not be pouting. “Come on, Sundance. I swear you’re such a sentimentalist. Do you want my macaroni necklaces from when I was four too or…?”

 

Lucas’ lips twitch at that and he gives Maya a fond look before he mimics seriousness. “You think your mom will let me have those?”

 

And Maya giggles, and shoves his shoulder warmly and it should be different, because Lucas can feel his Sign waving in the air above his head his heart seems to want to jump out of his chest and hit Maya in the face with how much he loves her, judging from all the pounding it’s doing but he’s never been uncomfortable around Maya Hart. And he isn’t now.

——————————————————————————————

This is his chance.

 

He and Maya are alone as Maya continues his portrait from last night. She is just sat there, looking as beautiful as always as she carefully traces his features, and Lucas is sat on a window seat, his elbows on his knees as he watches her. She’s using paints now, her fingers already coloured in bright shades as she moves over the canvas.

 

This is his chance. Austin’s nowhere to be found and it’s not like Maya’s got anywhere to be and this is his chances.

 

And he knows this. But somehow what comes out of Lucas’ mouth is, “Hey, how was the thing you had to handle with that Peter kid?”

 

Because he’s an idiot.

 

“Parker.” Maya corrects absently as she makes an elegant, light brush stroke. She considers her work for a moment before going to wash her brush. “He’s Charlie’s kid brother and Charlie asked me to give him some stuff from him while I was here.”

 

“Charlie. Is that the one that does your taxes?” Lucas asks asks as his brow furrows in thought but Maya just shakes her head.

 

“That’s Ty, but I’m not talking to him right now, so.” Maya shrugs with a nonchalant frown, and wipes pale yellow paint off her fingers and onto the painting shirt. “Charlie’s the one who’s in a band. He helped me write that weird song for your birthday last year.” 

 

“Oh  _Charlie_.” Lucas says in understanding. “The one with the long hair?” 

 

“That is actually both of them.” Maya says lightly and she looks up from the canvas to give him a wry smile. Lucas frowns. 

 

“The one with the girlfriend?” He tries and Maya laughs. 

 

“That’s actually neither of them.”  

 

“Okay, I’m going to quit at breaking even.” Lucas says easily and Maya smiles at him and shakes her head as she starts to mix colors to create a certain shade. Lucas scrubs a hand through his hair and watches her for a moment, wondering if now is a good time or maybe later? How do people even do this confessing thing? Where do you  _start_?  

 

“So you’re mad at Tyler? What did he do?” 

 

“Be himself.” 

 

“Wow.” Lucas says with a startled laugh, turning to look at Maya’s irritated face as in surprise because  _ouch_. “Harsh.” 

 

“He deserves it. He can be a real asshole when he wants to be. And  _trust me_ , he wants to be. I think he actually enjoys it, and it’s usually not a problem but…” Maya makes a frustrated noise as she mixes a generous amount if white paint into the mixture to make a warm medium green. 

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

 

“No.” Maya answers immediately, brushing a stray strand of hair off of her forehead and unintentionally smearing a streak of paint across it. Lucas rolls his eyes as Maya continues like nothing happened. “What did you do while I was gone?” 

 

“Hung out with Missy and-”  

 

“Ugh.” Maya says in automatic reaction to Missy’s name and Lucas shoots her a look. 

 

“She’s not that bad once you get to know her.” Lucas insists and Maya rolls her eyes as she gently begins so swirl green paint across the canvas in small circles. 

 

“So you’ve told me.” Maya says stubbornly as she takes a step back to survey her progress. She looks between Lucas and the painting with a furrowed brow. “I have yet to see proof.” 

 

“That’s because in the two years that I have been friends with her, you haven’t been in a room with her longer than the five minutes it take you to  _leave_ the room.” Lucas grumbles and Maya’s laugh is so sharp and sudden that seems to surprise even her. 

 

“I can’t deny that.” She says with a grin and Lucas rolls his eyes at the hint of pride in her voice. Maya comes closer to Lucas and takes his face in her paint streaked hands, looking into his eyes intently for a moment, likely trying to gauge the colour today. And Lucas has been through this a million times, has had Maya study him more often than anybody else, but something about this, today (with Maya’s thumb digging gently into his cheek, and her face only a breath away) makes it all seem strangely intimate. 

 

Lucas gulps. 

_Now._  

 

“Maya-“ 

 

But then Maya’s phone buzzes, and she let’s go of his face and takes several steps back just to check it. She looks at the message left and smiles as she begins to type her reply. 

 

“Yeah Huckleberry?” She asks without taking her eyes off her phone and Lucas swallows hard, and tries to put his Sign away somewhere where she can’t spot it because  _now isn’t the right time._  

 

So instead he says, “I was just going to say Missy’s probably my closest friend here.” 

 

And Maya snaps her head up to look at him so fast that Lucas is a little startled. She stares at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly open and brows furrowed tightly. Pure shock and bewilderment in one expression. 

 

“Maya. You cannot tell me you didn’t know that. I’ve been talking to you about her since the first month of first year.” Lucas says calmly and Maya’s mouth moves soundless for a moment as her eyes flick over his face. 

 

“Yeah but….I thought this was a phase or something.” 

 

Maya checks Lucas for a fever exactly four times, asks him seriously whether or not he’s ingested anything Missy has given him today, and even subtly looks for signs of hypnotism. 

 

And if someone were to ask Lucas if he was looking for her sign the entire time, looking for some sort of indication that Maya wanted him like he wanted her, well, Lucas couldn’t deny that.

 

 ————————————————————————–

 

“So,  _you’re_  the one who’s got Lucas wrapped around her little finger. Be honest, how many embarrassing stories can you tell us about him before you leave tomorrow?” 

 

These are the first words spoken to Maya the minute that the two of them enter his dorm’s common room. There is no ‘hello’, or ‘nice to meet you’, or ‘Lucas has told me about you’ just an instant search for blackmail material because Lucas has somehow gained himself little sisters. And Lucas just sighs, purses his lips glares between the two girls, Alex with her curling grin and Olive with her eager eyes and it has no affect at all on either of them. In fact Lucas is pretty sure Alex’ grin  _widens_. 

 

And Maya, Maya just grins like she’s been  _waiting for this moment her whole life_  which, knowing her, she probably has.  

 

“Well how much time you got?” She asks to Alex brightly and Alex’s eye gleam and she looks almost  _hungry_  while Olive looks like she might pee herself just from excitement. Maya raises a brow and  smirks and Lucas can feel the girls falling in love with her and knows instantly that if these three get along he is doomed to a life of constant teasing and sassing  _until the day he dies._  

 

“For this? A life time.” Olive says joyfully and she looks almost dreamy at the prospect of embarrassing Lucas. And Lucas can recall the day that they first met with crystal clarity, remembers meeting Olive and think she was adorable and sweet and remembers meeting Alex and thinking that she could probably beat him in a battle of wits with her hands behind her back.  

 

He takes it all back except for the stuff about Alex. That’s still probably true. 

 

“But I also have chemistry in an hour.” Olive pouts and,  _thank the heavens for small mercies._   

 

“I just want to say that I know that I can do nothing to stop this,” Lucas says blandly. “But also that I hate you all. That is it.” 

 

Maya grins and turns to him. Pats him gently on the cheek, and Lucas grimaces. “Don’t kid yourself. You love me.” She says brightly and behind her back Lucas can see both Alex’s mouth open to speak as Olive brightens spectacularly. And he has never been so glad to hear Maya’s phone beep, because as soon as she turns her back Lucas shakes his head firmly at the girls because  _they know too, everybody knows_. And Alex confused and mouths ‘no?!’ as Olive’s brow furrows. Alex points between him and Maya, and mouths quite obviously ‘why not?!’ and Lucas doesn’t know what to say to that – how to react to that without speaking and- 

 

“So are you guys training to be mimes? Or…” Maya stands with her phone in her hand looking between them all like she unsure if they’re just weird or actually ill. Alex smiles sweetly. 

 

“Nope. I’m trying out for the drama club and Lucas told me he did some plays and stuff like that and I just really wanted to practice. You know silently. Without words.” Alex says confidently and Maya’s brow furrows further before she shrugs. 

 

“Is it sad that I’ve seen weirder things in my life?” Maya says with a small smile and Alex grins brightly. 

 

“No, that just means you’ll fit right in here! What, Lucas, you’re leaving, oh no!” Alex says quickly and before Lucas can even catch up in the conversation he is being shooed out the door and pushed into the hallway, Alex stood in the middle of the threshold exactly half into the room and half out of it. 

 

“Alex, what-“ 

 

“Now you listen to me, Friar.” Alex hisses under her breath and Lucas blinks. “You love that girl. Like a lot. And if you are seriously not screwing with me and Ols when you say you’re not dating her, then you need to get your act together and woman up! Talk about your feelings! Cry if you have to! She probably loves you too!” 

 

Lucas just blinks at her and before he knows it Alex has stepped further out into the hallway and is holding out a threatening finger at him as she whispers. “And if I see you tomorrow and find out that the two still aren’t together, then I swear that I will  _accidentally_ lock you two into a supply closet! This is for your own good. You’ll thank me later. And also,” Alex smiles, and laughs as she begins to speak at a normal volume again. “I kind of want to hear embarrassing things about you while you’re not hear so that I can bring them up in conversation and you can make that weird face you do sometimes.” 

 

Lucas gives Alex a deadpan look and she laughs and points at it delightedly.  

 

“Yeah, that one! Okay bye, go get your act together.” Alex says as she turns and goes back to the door, and she almost closes it before thinking better of it and opening it again with an gleeful look on her face. “Oooh, and while you do get coffee!”

————————————————————————————————————-

 “Just tell her you love her.”

 

Lucas jumps from where he’s been standing in front of his dresser table, fingers gently brushing over Boogy’s fur as he thought. He doesn’t know how long he’s been here, staring at the horribly ugly stuffed animal and thinking about Maya making it for him, of her thinking of him as she messily sewed his stitches. He wonders if that counts as a sign? How would he know?

 

Lucas turns around to see Dez looking at him in exasperation, jaw shifted like he’s doing a chore.

 

Lucas’ eyes shift around the very empty room and his brow slowly furrows.

 

“How did you get in here?” Lucas asks in confusion.

 

“Lucas we’re talking about you and your problems now, keep up.” Dez says as he gives Lucas a tired look that Lucas might be slightly offended by if only he wasn’t worrying about how the hell Dez Wade got into his dorm without him knowing.

 

“Do you have a key?” Lucas asks incredulously, eyes glancing at the lock on the door to see that,  _yes it is still as locked as he left it._

 

Dez ignores him.

 

“Just tell her. You two belong together.” Dez says and that’s nice but Lucas has looked to the left and-

 

“Did you come in through that open window?”

 

“You guys are like peanut butter and jelly.”

 

“You know this is breaking and entering right?”

 

“Like pickles and pancakes.”

 

“Tell me how you got in here Dez.”

 

“It’s not like anybody else will date you anyways.”

 

“Dez, I don’t care if you’re Austin’s best- wait what?” Lucas asks just a little bit offended and Dez only shrugs. “Why? I’m dateable.”

 

Dez snorts. “You’re got  _Property of Maya Hart_  written all over you buddy. You talk about her all the time and there was those few months you had a picture of her as your phone background last year. None of the girls around here are going to date you Lucas, because you just reek of ‘taken’. They have literally thought you were off the market _since you got here_. Hadn’t you ever wondered why nobody ever asked you out? Or flirted with you?”

 

Lucas’ mouth opens but then he closes it because, well.

 

He hadn’t. With school and Maya and Riley and even Missy to keep his mind off things, Lucas had never really wondered why he never got asked out or even hit on and-

 

Wow. Missy was right.  

 

Lucas cringes.

 

Yeah, still bad.

 

“Plus you’re weirdly perfect. I mean, I myself am very close to perfection but you’re already there most of the time which is weird and kind of intimating.” Dez wrinkles his nose in disgust as he gestures to all of Lucas with a wave of his hand, and Lucas would maybe be offended if this wasn’t Dez Ward and if he hadn’t been exposed to this for the entirety of his college experience. As it is he just sighs, rolls his eyes slightly and continues listening. “She makes you less of a ‘perfect mandroid’ and more of an  _actual human being_  with flaws. Like not realizing you’re in love with your best friend for two decades.”

 

Lucas blinks. “I’m twenty-one.”

 

“ _Exactly_.” Dez says and he takes two steps towards Lucas just to clap him on the shoulder. “You know what that means? You’re officially too old to be standing alone  in your room playing with ugly plush toys when you could be making out with your girlfriend.”

 

Lucas’ eyes widen just slightly before they narrow to almost slits. “You knew that we weren’t together the whole time.”

 

Dez smirks. “Duh.”

 

Dez then turns from Lucas, goes into Austin’s closet, and pulls out a duffle bag full of rubber ducks with a satisfied smile. “Austin was holding these for me. I’m a direct _or_.”

 

“…I know that Dez. I’ve know you for a year and a half.” Lucas says slowly and Dez frowns.

 

“Has it been that long?” Dez asks in surprise. His brow furrows. “Why don’t I like you yet?”

 

And before Lucas can even think about how to answer that question, Dez has taken his ducks and left.

 

Lucas takes care to lock the window tightly before he leaves.

————————————————————————————————————–

Lucas goes to Maya’s favorite café for coffee, not because it’s across town and he’s stalling.

 

No.

 

It’s because he knows the owner and the coffee is good and Maya really likes their strawberry cheese danishes.

 

And also he might be stalling.

 

Lucas enters the café and is slightly glad to see it empty, and he goes straight to the counter confidently, smiling brightly at the owner when she gives him her attention.

 

“How are things Lucas?” Lily asks brightly, and Lucas opens his mouth to respond something vague and impersonal but then Lily tilts her head at him and smiles so genuinely that he just -

 

“I’m in love with my best friend.” Lucas just blurts out and Lily looks briefly surprised.

 

“Maya?” She asks lightly and this is getting ridiculous. Lucas slumps against the counter of Lily’s front desk and sighs.

 

“How did you know?” Lucas asks in exasperation and Lily just pats him gently on the shoulder before ruffling a hand quickly through his hair.

 

“Well, kid, sorry to break it to but you just get this certain look in your eye whenever you even glance in her direction. It’s like you light up from the inside.” Lily says gently as a kind smile makes its way to her lips before she shrugs casually. “Plus it couldn’t be that other one.”

 

Lucas wrinkles his nose. “Riley?”

 

Riley has come to visit him a handful of times since he’d moved out here, as many times as she could really with her schedule. Being an in demand journalist was well, demanding and Riley dispersed her time in the country between all of five of them equally. From what Lucas understood, his next chance to see her was going to be two months from now during her seventy two hour layover from Sweden or Switzerland or maybe Australia, Lucas wasn’t sure. All he knew was that once every few months one of his best friends will show up on his door step and hug him like she hasn’t seen him in years and that’s enough for him.

 

But he and Riley? 

 

No. They tried that in middle school, considered it again in high school, considered it _again_  his first year of university (seriously and candidly in the privacy of his dorm room) and the honestly they were just better as friends.

 

The truth was Lucas had spent a large portion of his life seeing the _first_ one as  _the one_  and  _the other one_  as anything but.

 

“Who? No, I’m talking about Missy.”

 

Lily laughs at the expression of unadulterated horror that Lucas makes in response to her comment for much longer than necessary, and actually wipes tears from her eyes when her giggles die down.

 

“Oh, I’m just joshing ya, I know that you and Missy aren’t like that but I swear every damn time someone asks about it you two look like  _that_ and it just makes my day.” Lily says happily and giggles a few more times as she starts up on his regular order. She finishes the frappacino with flourish, pumping a couple extra pumps of caramel syrup into it before handing it to him with flourish. “The extra pumps are for confidence.”

 

“Lily, it’s sugar.” Lucas says with a grateful smile and Lily practically puffs up her chest in pride.

 

“Damn straight it is. Now what else can I get you?” 

 

Lucas details Alex’s order and Maya’s between sips of his Frappuccino, (an unhealthy obsession for which he blames Missy, and college, and all nighters for completely) and thanks Lily through half a mouthful of the liquid. It’s only when he swallows and is about to leave that Lucas realizes something.

 

“Lily? What was the extra confidence shot for?”

 

Lily blink in confusion. “Well you’re telling her how you feel, today right? While she’s here for the weekend?”

 

And Lucas swears that the world is conspiring against him.

———————————————————————-

Lucas has barely stepped out of ‘The Lily Pad’ when he hears his name being called, and he turns around in surprise to see who’s calling after him.

 

“Oliver?” He asks in confusion and Oliver Oken, one of Missy’s many previous step brothers (her mother has been married precisely seven times) smiles at him and gives a short wave of his hand. Lucas smiles back because he knows that Oliver is the only one of Missy’s step-siblings (previous or otherwise) that she still talks to regularly, that she actually loves and cares for. He shakes Oliver’s hand and startles slightly when he’s pulled in for a hug, before hugging the older man back and pulling away. “How are you?”

 

“Good, man, I’m real good!” Oliver says brightly and Lucas nods. “I just came to visit Miss today and I heard that you were having some trouble with that girl of yours? The one you bring around sometimes?”

 

Oliver has met Maya a few times in the past few years because just like Maya, he comes at the end of the month to visit Missy. And whenever Maya’s around Missy seems to spontaneously have colds or stomach bugs so more often than not she’ll send Oliver to Lucas’ dorm to give him messages or items or to demand something unreasonable from Lucas (such as the instance in which Missy sent Oliver to demand he to get to borrow his puppy so she could cuddle with it and perhaps cure her hangover. Lucas does not have a dog. Oliver was not surprised by this and said that Missy expected him, being ‘practically a vet’, to get one for her under the table and Lucas specifically recalls Oliver reading the phrase ‘aren’t there puppy black markets’ via Missy from his cell phone.).

 

“It’s not trouble exactly…” Lucas says embarrassedly and Oliver laughs.

 

“Trust me, man if you love her? It’s going to be trouble either way it goes. Whether she says yes or no to you there will be trouble to come. It’s the one thing you can count on.” Oliver says with a grin before his face clouds over in confusion. “Wait have yoi told her already?”

 

“Not…in so many words?” Lucas says and Oliver gives him a deadpan look.

 

“Okay look kid. I’m in big brother mode today so I’m kind of contractually obligated to give you brotherly advice, even though you aren’t one of my own. You don’t have to listen to it. You can completely ignore me if you want to because I don’t know you that well and I don’t know anything about you and her other than the fact that you’ve been friends for a long time, you sleep in the same bed, and that you watch way too much Adventure Time. But,” Oliver says weightily and Lucas looks at him warily as he starts to speak. “I do know a thing or two about falling for your best friend. And I do know a thing or two about waiting it out or stalling or sitting on it, and let me tell you this. 

 

You’re going to want to tell her  _now_. You guys only see each other once a month and a month might seem like nothing today but later?  _After_? Whether you guys break up or stay together until you’re  _old and wrinkly_ , down the road you’re going to wish you had that extra month. If you love her like you look like you do, if you love her at all, you’re going to want every extra second with her you can get. It will never be enough time in the end though but the biggest thing you’ll probably regret? Is the time you spent dicking around instead of being with her. And from what Missy tells me,” Oliver winces. “You’ve spent a lot of time dicking around bro. Why wait another minute? I know you’re thinking about what could happen if it doesn’t work out. But what if it does?”

 

And then it clicks.

 

That’s it. Realizing out he loved Maya was like a flood but this, this was like a light switch, a sudden click and then the fear was gone. Because he wanted to be with Maya and he could. It was that simple.

 

And Lucas wants to be with her now. Right now.

 

“Oliver,” Lucas starts and his mind is racing with the way Maya’s nose scrunches when she laughs, the intimacy when she looks into his eyes, the way his heart wants her more than anything, the Box Theory. “Oliver thank you so much but-“

 

“You gonna go be with her?” Oliver asks in surprise, and a small startled smile curves on his lips. “That worked?”

 

“Yeah!” Lucas said in surprise, and he hands Oliver the pastries and coffees in his hands in thanks. “Here, thank you so much, they’re really good pastries and coffee and stuff from that café over-“

 

“Yeah I know, kid.” Oliver says and there it is, there’s his Sign. It glows warm and bright as his lips twist into a smile, as he looks back at the restaurant longingly. “Me and the owner kind of had this thing going on and well…I’m gonna see if it’s still there.”

 

“I hope it is.” Lucas says quickly as he starts backing away from Oliver. “I hope she loves you.”

 

And Oliver grins, takes one of the Frappuccinos from the drink tray and salutes him with it, “Right back at you buddy.”

————————————————————————————————

Lucas sees Signs on the entire way back to school.

 

He sees Austin and Ally walking back to campus from their day date. Ally on Austin’s back with her heels dangling from her fingers as she speaks happily in Austin’s ear, making him laugh brightly. There signs shines bright and loud above their heads for everyone to see, like an announcement to the world that they’re in love.

 

He sees Freddie and the motorcyclist, walking down boardwalk and eating ice cream together, Mr. Benson giving the blonde motorcyclist his ice cream cone and her taking it without thanks. After she licks the ice cream off of her finger she does take his hand though, and from the smile on Freddie’s face, that’s enough. Their Sign is quiet but bolded, an exclamation of love that asks for no attention from anyone but each other, something content and kind.

 

He spots two freshmen on the way in, one a twin of a girl who might be named Lindy who Lucas has seen a few times in his Natural science course and the other a small dark haired girl who absolutely shines when the boy wraps his arm around her. Their Sign is new and fresh and blushingly shy but there in their eyes when the look at each other.

 

_Alas, I’m in love ~~with another.~~_

——————————————————————————————–

“Hey Ranger Rick, did you know that Olive knows Fletcher?” Maya asks as she comes into Lucas’ dorm room and Lucas whips around to see her, eyes flicking over the elegant braid that ties her hair back from her face as she locks the door behind her. “Apparently she went to the same special school he did but for academics instead of art! Isn’t that weird?”

 

“You changed your hair.” Lucas says instead of answering and Maya just blink up at him her lips slowly curling into a smile as she reached up to touch the braid gently.

 

“You like it? Alex did it.” Maya says brightly and her smile turns slightly smug as she flips the tail of the braid to show off. “Said that she thought it might make me look like Rapunzel.”

 

Lucas’ smile twitches onto his face and he watches the fondness glint into Maya’s eyes as it does. “I don’t know if it looks like Rapunzel but…you look beautiful.”

 

And it’s not the first time he’s said it. But it’s the first time he lets his voice carry the weight of how much he means it. Maya looks startled for a moment and blinks for a few seconds, before a smile begins curving onto her lips, something small and genuinely and Lucas can see it, swears he can see it.

 

Her Sign.

 

And it’s pointing at him.

 

“Maya, I have to tell you something.” Lucas says quickly and Maya’s eyes light up. “And it’s something that I don’t want to tell you through a screen or a text or anything.”

 

“That’s funny, because I have news too.” Maya says brightly as she grins and her Sign shines bright as her eyes twinkle, and her smile widens.

 

“Yeah?” Lucas asks breathlessly because this is it. Now. This is the moment that he tells her. While he can see Maya’s sign clearly and she’s smiling at him like this, like he’s the only thing that matters right now, as she looks as beautiful as she always does, as she’s here in front of him for him to touch and God he never knew how much he wanted to tell her in person until this moment, until it was the right moment. “Maya-“

 

And her phone beeps.

 

And Maya’s lips fold over an affectionate smile as she reaches back to dig her phone out of her back pocket, her eyes warm with something tender. “Speak of the devil.”

 

“What?” Lucas asks, in confusion and Maya click open her phone and smiles shyly at a text and Lucas suddenly remembers her getting texts all day, remembers her always turning her back to take them.

 

“My news.” Maya says as she tries for nonchalance but falls short as a giddy smile twitches on her lips, and Lucas can see her sign, loud and clearly and painful.

 

Because he was looking for Maya’s sign all day and he found one.

 

But it’s not for him.

 

“Lucas I’m seeing somebody.” Maya says breathlessly and Lucas feels like he’s been sucker punched and his eyes are hot because everyone’s been telling him all day to tell Maya how he felt before it was too late.

 

And it already was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters to go...
> 
> #MissyIsAlwaysRightAlways pass it on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A drabble in which: Ray Perry is himself, Maya Hart is at her official bullsh*t limit and Lucas Friar has a terrible, terrible haircut. Enjoy!

**5 Days to Huckleberry Weekend**

“Okay, so I, as a good Samaritan to the world, and also as someone who really wants to get off the train to _Pathetic_ Ville, feel like it’s my responsibility to let you know how sad this is getting.”

 

Maya rolls her eyes towards ceiling in instant exasperation, drops her paint brush into the mason jar of colored water by her side in defeat of getting any more art done for the next hour.

 

She’ll be too pissed to paint in anything but black until he leaves.

 

In Maya’s defense, she is not being dramatic. Ray Perry is probably the most irritating person on earth. Even _Charlie_ doesn’t like him, and Charlie likes _everybody_.

And Maya? Well, after he unapologetically ruined Charlie’s chances with the girl he loves, and messed with Stella’s head, she has somehow found herself disliking him even more than she did before.

Which she didn’t think was actually possible.

But here we are.

Maya counts very slowly to ten before she turns to give Ray a deadpan look. Ray smiles with mocking pleasantry, his dark sunglasses glinting in the sunlight streaming from Maya’s ceiling to floor windows as nods at the painting in front of her with his paper coffee cup.

 

“ _This_ ,” He says with a slightly raised brow towards the portrait of Lucas, a rather colorless display in greys and pastels that Maya isn’t proud of. “is getting really fucking sad.”

Maya has somehow found herself trying to recreate her portrait of Lucas despite her best judgement, has found herself wanting it for reasons she is not fully in understanding of. She’s already gone on her third date with Gabe, kissed him three times, and invited him to her gallery presentation in a couple weeks. It’s not getting serious or anything, but it’s _nice_ and _distracting_ and should _really_ be helping Maya move on.

She’s trying _so hard_ to move on.

And she could. Maya is convinced she could, is actually determined to no matter what, to move passed this thing she had with Lucas, which isn’t really even a _thing_. It’s not like it was ever reciprocated. It’s not like Ranger Rick even _knows_.

Gabe is nice, funny, a good kisser and generally pretty cool.

And Maya could love him. She _could_.

She just has to forget about Huckleberry.

“Ray.” Maya says, smiling with false brightness right back as she takes the bag of pastries out of Ray’s other hand, smacking him perhaps a bit too hard (or just hard enough, depending on who you ask) on the upper arm in exchange. “Have I told you how much I despise you lately?”

Ray doesn’t answer so much as he hums incoherently while he takes a large gulp of his latte, walking in front of her canvas to squint at the painting in consideration. “You know, it’s really freaking creepy that you’ve memorized his face?”

“You mean creepy like _your_ face, or creepy like your face is going to look once I’m done with it?” Maya asks as she opens the pastry bag and pulls out a cheese croissant. She raises a single brow as she takes a large bite in the pastry but Ray isn’t even looking at her. Instead Ray tilts his head at the painting and frowns.

“I mean creepy like that jail painting you keep across from your bed, just to remind you of him-“

“You know, I missed these little talks of ours Ray.” Maya interrupts sarcastically, determinedly ignoring the twinge in her heart at the mention of Paper Bars. Ray grins at her plastically as he pushes his sunglasses up onto the top of his head. “Really. Now, approximately _when_ will you be going back on tour, and also, consequently, miles away from me and my life? We talking two weeks? Three? A couple more days, preferably?”

Ray smirks as he curiously picks up one of Maya’s brushes, twirling it in his hands as he speaks. “Try _two months_ Snack-Sized. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to visit you _every single day_ I’m here.”

“Joy.” Maya deadpans sarcastically as she slaps the paint brush out of the boy’s hand, which only seems to bring Ray genuine glee. Maya puts the paint brush back into its place, and opens her mouth to speak but pauses midway as something occurs to her, furrows her brow in the older boy’s direction. “Hey, just curious, _how did you get into my house_?”

“You keep your key under your mat,” Ray says with a shrug before wrinkling his nose and narrowing his eyes critically at Maya. “Which is honestly the most obvious place; find some originality Hart, you’re boring everybody.”

Maya counts to ten before speaking, knows that if she were to strangle her neighbor’s boyfriend she’d never hear the end of it. She takes a deep breath and then continues.

“Why are you here Ray?” She intones measuredly, and Ray scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Well, _obviously_ Stels’ not home yet.” Ray says as if the answer is obvious and Maya’s just playing dumb to be difficult. Maya swears that her eye twitches. “You’d think she’d be waiting for my arrival, being that I put a ring on it and all, but of course she’s probably out with the Jailbaby or MoJo JoJo or something. I need someone to annoy until she gets here.”

 

“I am not your fiance’s substitute.”

Ray snorts, “No shit. Stella’s hot and cool and funny and rips on the guitar and you _paint_ and _pine_ after some loser vet cowboy from high school-“

And Maya could tell him about Gabe. She could say that she’s seeing somebody else and that he’s hot and rich and funny but-

But for some reason she doesn’t.

Maybe it’s because she hates Ray and doesn’t want him in her business.

Maybe it’s because she and Gabe aren’t too serious yet.

But later when Maya wonders why she can convince herself that it’s wither of those things. She can’t even convince herself that what Ray said isn’t the truth.

“By the way…” Maya can’t help but wrinkle her nose in preparation for what she’s about to say, mentally apologizing to Charlie in her head. She really doesn’t want to but Stels loves him (god knows why) and it’s _probably_ the right thing to do. “Congrats I guess. On the whole marriage thing.”

Riley would be proud of her.

“Wow, that sounded like it _stung_ coming out, Thumbelina!” Ray laughs obnoxiously, tipping his coffee cup in Maya’s direction as he jeers. “I can see that knarly vein in your forehead from the effort that took you-“

“I take it back, I take it back, nope, _screw you_.” Maya interrupts swiftly and Ray shakes his head.

“I might’ve just gotten off a flight to Japan and I might also be jet-lagged as shit, but one thing I am not is forgetful.” Ray says as he takes another deep swing of coffee. “You congratulating me on locking it down with Stella? It’s in vault, yo! I’ll remember that forever and ever and ever and ever-“

“Remind me, how do you have any friends?” Maya deadpans as she takes another bite of the croissant. She speaks the next sentence around her mouthful. “And how you convinced Stella to date you in the first place? My bet’s on witchcraft.”

“Oh, is that what you’ve been using to create this painting? Voodoo? Makes so much more sense now…” Ray says as he points at the canvas, cocking his head mockingly, as if he’s trying to understand an abstract painting. Maya glares. “You know, I’m not going to lie, at first I thought it looked super creepy-“

“You said that.” Maya interrupts in annoyance, but Ray holds up a finger as he looks at the painting with a mock of interest.

“Not to mention _desperate_ but _now_ -”

 

“Well, nice to have you over Ray,” Maya interrupts again, because she’s officially met her limit of bullshit for the day. “but I think we both know it’s time to-“

 

“To answer your question, the reason people flock to me is because I’m honest as hell. Whatever I think pretty much comes out of my mouth. You don’t have to like me but you gotta respect that.” Ray says as he drains the last of the latte in his hand and then walks over to Maya’s coffee table to grab another one from the beverage tray he must have set there on his way in. Maya narrows her eyes as she watches him take another gulp.

“Actually, I don’t think I do. Get out of my apartment Ray.” Maya says shortly, and Ray raises a brow as he pulls the cup from his lips.

“Touchy today aren’t we? What, your boy finally got a girlfriend or something?”

“Ray-“

“Your right, that’s ridiculous. For him to get a girlfriend he’d have to actually have the awareness to realize that somebody is interested in him, and then the balls to ask them out. And considering that God gave that boy just about the same level of good sense he gave a _raisin_ , I’m not sure how _likely_ that is? And if we’re on the topic of his balls, are they _really_ there or are we just _assuming_ -”

“Ray, if _don’t_ you want to keep all of your limbs and appendages where they are, I suggest you say _one more_ bad thing about Lucas.” Maya threatens lowly, and Ray’s smile curls as he holds up both hands in innocence.

“Alright, alright, okay, no more insulting lover-boy. But you know what? I’ll give you a bit of advice for the road. Free of charge, just like that croissant that you’re gorging yourself with,” Ray says with a nod of his second coffee cup to the half-eaten croissant in Maya’s hand. Maya offers it back to him with a blunt expression, because she regrets taking it if it’s the only thing stopping Ray from leaving her apartment. But Ray just wrinkles his nose in disgust as he huffs, shaking his head. “Here’s the truth: If you don’t tell him that you want to get into his heart _as well as_ his pants soon, you’re gonna lose him to some bottle blonde with a shih tzu and a degree in fashion history.”

 

May scoffs, raising both brows caustically. “Oh really?”

 

Ray nods. “Definitely. And you? You’re going to end up in some unsatisfactory relationship with some greasy French guy who thinks your art is the key to the world or some shit. He’ll probably get you to date him by pulling that dumb line about painting him like one of your French girls, because you are not too good to laugh at that line, don’t lie.” Maya rolls her eyes but Ray ignores that and continues. “He’ll probably be rich or something, or at least pretty attractive, because even though you’re not Stels, you’re like a eight on a good day and you’re not appalling as far as personality goes. You’ll pop out a few semi-cute kids, maybe be able to pay your bills on time for once, and, to be honest, you’ll probably live an okay life. But you know what else?”

Maya doesn’t want to know what else. She doesn’t want to think about how uncomfortably close this hypothetical French Guy is to Gabe, doesn’t want to wonder if their future will be just as similar as Ray ( _of all people_ ) is describing. She wants to kick Ray out and go on another date with Gabe to distract herself of all this, she wants to strip this canvas portrait of Lucas off it’s wood and make a new one, she wants to call Charlie over and eat ice cream and wallow together in heartache, she wants-

She _wants_ -

“You’re going to see him one day.” Ray says, cutting through Maya’s thoughts like a butcher knife and Maya blinks up at him.  “In the grocery store with his pack of small children and animals or at a high school reunion or in an airport in passing, and you’re going to look at him and everything he’s become and everything he is, and you know what? You’re going to realize just how much you fucked up. Because the French guy might not make you _unhappy_ but does he make you happy at all? He might love you but do you love _him_? And shit, for all I know he might and you might and whatever! But does he make you feel _as much_ as the cowboy could’ve? Do you love him as much as you could’ve loved Lucas?” Ray asks as he points to the canvas behind him and Maya throws her hands up in the air in defeat, tries to will her racing heart to settle because this is _bullshit_ , Ray is just being Ray and saying _bullshit_.

That’s all.

It doesn’t _mean_ anything.

“I don’t know Ray, how am I supposed to know!” Maya exclaims angrily, feeling her blood boil beneath the surface of her skin. “Your hypothetical bullshit has _no basis_ , and anyways, I don’t believe in the whole soulmate thing in the first place-“

 

“But that’s just the thing Maya!” Ray interrupts loudly. “You don’t have to believe in it because here are the facts: It’s subjective as hell. Sometimes you get a few hundred chances at love and sometimes you only get _one_ , but how would you know what cards you’ve been dealt? How are you supposed to know _anything_? You _don’t_. You just have to live life and take a chance on each person who makes their way into your heart, you gotta see which ones are there to stay and which ones are meant to leave, but how would you know which one the damn vet is if you never even let him take you to a rodeo and kiss him on a mechanical bull or whatever cowboys freaking do, I don’t know, this is your life!” Ray says with a large gesture of his hand that spills latte on Maya’s carpet. Ray doesn’t seem to notice as he keeps speaking but Maya finds herself trying to focus on her annoyance at the stain that the spill will probably produce instead of his next words, tries to let her anger at Ray’s general presence make her indifferent to this. “What I’m trying to say is, what if after a million greasy French guys and a thousand bottle blondes with shih tzus, _it’ll always be him_?”

Maya stares at the stain harder and says nothing. Ray throws his hands up in frustration, narrows his eyes at Maya in a combination of disbelief and annoyance.

“Or, hell, what if the greasy French guy’s ‘the one’? I don’t fucking know, I’m not a damn prophet! What if he’s ‘the one’ but you’re never sure because Lucas would always be that ‘what if’. That ‘maybe’, that ‘almost’. It’ll ruin your fucking life!” Ray says emphatically, voice echoing throughout her apartment. Maya distracts herself with a large bite from the croissant in her hand but not a moment after the buttery pastry is in her mouth does Ray yank it out of her hand, hold it high above his where she can’t reach it as he raises a brow. Maya rolls her eyes to mask the growing heaviness she feels in the pit of her stomach about where this is going. “The point is that _you’ll never know_ and _you’ll always wonder_ if you never _try_! So I don’t know why you’re pretending to pull this ‘I love him but can’t be with him’ bullshit! You’re _supposed_ to be with him. That’s how this shit works. If you’re never with him then how will you know if it’s _always_ supposed to be _him_. How will you know if he’s the love of your life or just a weird crush that’s lasted for a decade, how will you know if he’s _it_. Not all you’ll ever get, but all you’ll ever need!”

 

“Yeah, but what if I’m not what he wants, huh? What then, Ray, oh, _master of love, guru of romance,_ what _then_?” Maya snaps sharply, and Ray doesn’t even flinch. “He may be it for me, but what if I’m not it for him? What if me going after him will only chase him away, what if me loving him will only be the first step to losing him-!”

 

“Would you prefer that over a life of not knowing-“ Ray starts, and Maya’s eyes are as hot as her blood, and her fist clench by her side.

 

“I would take _anything_ over the possibility of not having Lucas in my life!” Maya shouts back, and Ray looks slightly startled for a moment. “You don’t know what it’s like! To wake up every morning and all you want is to _see_ them, to have something happen and just want to talk to them about it, to go through life knowing that no matter what happens they’ll be there, not because they have to be but because they want to be! To have someone be such a large part of your life that you can’t imagine living without them, because it hurts too much to even think about that! Lucas is not a crush, he’s one of the most important people in my life! Have you ever had _that_ and had it taken away? Do you know how that feels? Because I do! And let me tell you, it _kills_ more than anything and _nothing is worth that feeling_! Nothing is worth living life without him!”

 

When Maya is finished speaking she’s breathing sharply, hands fisted at her sides, and eyes glaring. Ray is just staring at her oddly at her as she pants, and at a knock on the door Ray’s eyes leave her. Maya turns to the front door as it opens to see Stella standing coolly in the doorway, smiling tightly.

 

“I was looking for my idiot but I heard yelling and figured that he might have come to you for free cable and entertainment again.” Stella says to Maya, glancing at Ray in an exasperated manner. Ray grins brightly at her, saluting her with his coffee. “You coming or not? There’s a burrito with your name on it.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be just a sec! Gotta finish having this heart to heart with Hart.” Ray says, and Stella looks briefly suspicious. Ray rolls his eyes. “I’m not doing anything! I swear! We’re just talking about the vet!”

 

“Oh, okay.” Stella says with a shrug. She looks at Maya in consideration for a moment. “Is everything okay? If you wanna talk about feelings and stuff I can call Olivia, she’s ten times better than him.”

 

Maya feels her anger subside slightly as she takes in Stella’s concerned expression, and shakes her head calmly, even mustering up a smile for her friend. “I’m okay Stels, don’t worry about it. I can handle Perry. “

“You sure?” Stella asks kindly, and Ray scoffs loudly but they both ignore him.

“Yeah! He’s harmless! All bark – like a Chihuahua!” Maya jokes with a teasing grin and Stella barks a laugh in reply.

“That’s so true, all he needs is a collar and a Gucci purse to sit in!” Stella says as she begins to back out of the apartment, grinning passed the slightly unreadable look in her eyes. It is in that split moment that Maya remember what today is, recalls what it means to Stella.

Mondays were always the day that Charlie slept over. It was always their day.

And as Stella winks at a huffing Ray as she shuts the door behind her Maya feels her smile begin to fall, remembers sharply why she’s doing this at all.

She’s doing the right thing. She _is_.

Ray’s just an idiot as usual. And when Maya turns to tell him just that she freezes at Ray’s expression, watches as his eyes stir with mixed emotions as he stares at where Stella once was, jaw clenched tightly.

Ray purses his lips and breathes deeply, looks Maya dead in the eyes.

“Look. You’re right. I might not know how that feels okay? I might not have one person in my life who I’ve known forever who’ll be there always. I might not have lost somebody like that either. I can’t relate to _you_ Maya, but you know who I _do_ empathize with?” Ray asks with heat, and Maya blinks in confusion at the sudden passion behind Ray’s eyes. “The fucking greasy French guy. _You_ might not mind going through your life avoiding the one person who you could probably love fully, to ignore that one ‘what if’, to live with that _constant question_ , but the French guy? The guy who ends up with you, who loves you more than anything, who chose you over anybody else, how do you think _he’s_ going to feel when he stands by your side at that grocery store, or that high school reunion, or that airport? How do you think he’s going to feel to have to see you longing for someone who you’re too afraid to go after because of how much _that guy_ means to you? How do you think he’s going to feel to know he’s the _safe bet_ , the one you chose because you knew _it wouldn’t hurt_ to lose him? How do you think he’s going to feel when he realizes that he _loves you too damn much_ to let you go, but not enough to give you your best chance, because that best chance could be a life without him!”

Ray’s voice booms through Maya apartment as he seems to be directing his frustration at something other than her, he’s eyes far off even as he looks directly into her own. Maya, for her part, is gaping slightly in shock, looking at Ray in surprise because _he knows_.

He knows and he’s not going to do a damn thing.

And for once Maya doesn’t know who she feels worse for. Charlie, who’s been in love with the wrong girl for years, Stella, who just wants to keep her friend any way she can get him, or surprisingly Ray, who’s just along for this mess of a ride.

And Maya doesn’t think of Gabe, cause she can’t think of Gabe. She doesn’t think of the way he pulled her chair out at dinner, or the wine that squirted out of his nose when she told a joke, or his kind smile.

She doesn’t think of him and what he deserves.

She can’t.

“You’re being selfish Hart.” Ray says lowly, and Maya feels like she’s been stabbed in the heart. She wants to look away from Ray’s blue eyes but she can’t manage too, tries to be indifferent but she’s failing.  “Not just when it comes to the cowboy, but when it comes to every guy after him.”

Ray twists his lips unhappily before downing the rest of his latte in one long drag, giving Maya enough time to blink back hot confused tears as he does. By the time Ray finishes the coffee, crams the rest of Maya’s croissant into his mouth and then shoves the empty cup back into the beverage tray on Maya’s coffee table, Maya’s eyes are mostly dry, even if her breath catches on every other inhale.

“Why do you even care?” Maya blurts out before she can think better of it, clamping her mouth shut in instant regret after as Ray glances at her blankly. Ray takes a deep breath in slowly, exhales it back out with the same pace.

“What are you? Twelve and a half?” Ray asks with narrowed assessing eyes and Maya’s brows crease in a combination of disbelief and annoyance.

“Twenty-one.” She answers bluntly, and Ray tilts his head in thought.

“And a half?”

“Fuck you.” Maya snaps back and Ray’s lips twitch slightly at that.

“Look, don’t get me wrong. I don’t like you.” Ray says honestly and Maya genuinely has no idea where this is going.

“Thanks.”

“But… this world is fucking hard. Life is so _hard_. And back when I was your age I just wished people would tell it to me straight _before_ I fucked up you know? Everyone is always there to give you advice _after_ you screw everything to shit but before? Silence. Crickets. Nada.” Ray says with a shrug, waving a hand to gesture to Maya generally. “You, surprising, somehow, against all odds…haven’t fucked this up yet. You’ve got a chance Pip Squeak. You _could_ come out of this happy. You know how many people get that? Less than you think.”

Ray swallows hard enough that his Adams apple bobs, his eyes trailing down to the coffee stain on Maya’s carpet.

“I guess I’m just hoping that all this shit about what goes around coming back around is true because, to be real? I’m not doing all of these good deeds just out of the ‘kindness of my heart’. I’m about me, Hart.” Ray looks up at Maya with an odd expression, his smile tight.

Maya gapes for a moment, her eyes narrowed in confusion as she scans Ray’s expression because for once Maya can’t tell if Ray actually is and asshole or if he’s just pretending to be. But then Ray waves a finger between the two of them, his lips curling into a smirk.

“This little conversation? It’s getting me a Benz.” Ray says cockily and Maya snorts is derision, because how could she ever think anything else.

“Of _course_ it is.”

Ray is an asshole, but…who ever said asshole’s can’t have feelings?

“You know it! So, my jobs done here. I’m going to go eat burritos with my lady.” Ray says with a grin as he starts backing out of Maya’s apartment, indicating to the last full drink with a wave of his hand. “You can have the last one, seeing your weird voodoo painting startled me awake.”

“Go, screw yourself Ray.” Maya says without hesitation and Ray grins.

“Hey, I’m getting married Hart! My days of screwing myself are _over_ -“

“You’re _disgusting_!” Maya shouts after him, and Ray cackles.

“Yeah, and you’re a pussy! Tell him you fucking love him, Tiny Dancer!” Ray yells over his shoulder before slamming the door.

Maya stays where she is for a lot longer than she should, not thinking about Gabe or things that haven’t even happened yet or things that could happen. She’s not even fuming over Ray, somehow desensitized to the anger brought about just generally to his presence.

Instead what she can’t help but wonder, what keeps popping into her mind is whether or not she really is selfish. Because if Ray freaking Perry seems to think so then that’s a damn problem. But before she can get too in her head her phone rings, pulling her back to the present. The ring tone is a deep bark on repeat, and when Maya picks up her phone off the coffee tables she’s unsurprised to see a photograph of a sleeping Lucas with a small stuffed lamb laying on his chest. Maya’s lips twitch in remembrance of manipulating and taking the picture unconsciously, but her smile falls the moment she notices it. It is then that Maya’s brows furrow, all other thoughts coming to a halt in the face of this, because it’s _Huckleberry_.

And Sundance has always made her feel _good_ , but now…

Now that she had Gabe.

Now that she’s decided to move on from him.

Now that everything is different –

She doesn’t know how to feel about Lucas anymore.

The phone goes to voicemail during Maya’s thought process and Maya stares at it considering for no longer than a moment before it buzzes with a text.

 **HUCKLEBERRY MAD LAMB:** Hey, are you free to Skype?

Maya feels as if she is frozen in place with her indecision. She doesn’t know how to act, what to say, how to damn _feel_ -

 **HUCKLEBERRY MAD LAMB:** It’s okay if you can’t, I just need to talk to somebody.

And just like that the decision is made.

Maya may not know how she’s supposed to feel about Lucas Friar anymore, but she does know one thing for sure. When he needs her she’s there.

She always will be.

Maya texts back swiftly with one hand as she grabs the leftover latte with the other, walking over to her bedroom with bare feet as she takes a small curious sip. Maya is able to pull out her laptop and get Skype up all one handedly on her bed, and by the time her computer starts calling Lucas’ she’s almost completely gotten the conversation with Ray off of her mind. Well, she can still feel the restlessness of her own heart, still feels as if her world has been turned on its axis, but the point is she’s not _thinking_ of it. And that has to be enough, because Maya’s not sure that those feelings will ever go away, will ever _not_ be present from now on.

The call connects Maya to an empty room in which she doesn’t actually see Lucas, but his dorm. Maya is confused for a moment until she notices the lump of blonde at the bottom of the screen, sees the back of Lucas’ head from where he’s laying himself over the desk. He must be face planting into it from what Maya can tell, and from the mess of textbooks that she can see surrounding him, he must be studying. Maya takes another sip of the latte, moving the hazelnut flavoring of it around her mouth in one brief moment of calm before she dives in.

“Okay. What is it?”

“I’ve got an seventy five page law essay that I have to finish, finals are coming up and I think I might fail them, my car broke down so I’m going to have to walk to class for the next week and I also may or may not be having an identity crisis because –do I even _want_ to be a vet?” Lucas asks honestly, and Maya blinks in surprise. “Is this even what I want to do with my life? Am I doing anything goddamn right Maya or am I just wasting my life chasing after a dream I had when I was twelve?”

 

“Well, first of all, hello to you to.” Maya says in reply before taking another sip of the hazelnut latte. Maya examines the cup as she hears Lucas sigh, watches him lift his head a few inches only to let it fall back onto the desk again with a soft thunk.

“Hi. I need you. Please talk to me.” Lucas says softly, almost inaudible to the speakers of his laptop, and Maya sighs gently, tries to ignore the special little thing that Lucas does to her heart as she looks up at the water marks on her ceiling. Maya takes a deep breath and tries to put what she feels away where it can’t be found for now, where she can examine it later and decide whether or not it’s okay. Because she might be selfish, heck, she might be unkind but-

God, Maya doesn’t want to lose this.

She’d do anything to keep this.

“Okay, first of all, Huckleberry you’ve killed at law and debates and stuff like that since we were in middle school. You aced your mock trial thing, and every time you tell me about your case studies you always seem to have only good things to say about them. You literally have no reason to worry about it Ranger Rick, you’re going to ace that assignment. The only thing you should be concerned about is the pricetag on the snack run you’re going to have to go through to get through seventy five pages of that, because damn, that’s a lot. I suggest Cheetos, but that’s just my personal favorite. I know you’re partial to pretzels. Okay, second, you are also going to _rock_ finals because _you’re smart_ Sundance.” Lucas groans in a way that is somehow able to portray his skepticism at that comment, and Maya is having none of it. “You _are,_ I literally don’t care what you have to say about it. Listen to me, no matter what other people think when they see your stupidly symmetrical face, you’re smart. No matter what people say about you when they see you on the football field, _you’re smart_. You’re _not going to fail_ because you’re intelligent and you work damn hard. What they say and think doesn’t matter because it’s not the truth.”

Maya finishes confidently, keeping her irritations at people’s assumptions out of her voice as best she can. She’s pleased when Lucas accepts her comments with silence, takes that for the acceptance that it is.

Maya nods to herself in approval before she takes another sip of the latte before continuing, gesturing with the cup as she speaks even though Lucas’ head is still down on the desk and he can’t possibly see her.  “And _if_ by some one in a million chance you do fail? We’ll deal with it. You’ll take a summer class or something online, don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out. We’ll call Farkle if anything, I’m sure he knows how to set something like that up. As for your car, I know a guy. I’ll text you his number and your car should be good as new in a couple of days. Until then, walk with Olive or something, quiz each other on the way to World History, or hell just talk to each other. Studying twenty four seven cannot be healthy. And look, Ranger Rick, you’ve wanted to be a vet for majority of your life. You love animals. You want to take care of them. That’s the truth.”

Maya can practically hear Lucas’ brain working even as she just looks at him on her laptop screen, can see him fretting even as he’s still. She swears she can hear his breath picking up speed in his inner turmoil and she rolls her eyes fondly before continuing.

“ _But_. If that’s not something that you want anymore? You can change. People are supposed to change Lucas, and that’s okay.” Maya says firmly, and watches Lucas’ head tip as he leans his cheek against the desk instead, finally moving his weight off his forehead. “Your life is not set in stone by some dream you used to have. If that’s not your dream anymore create _a new one_. Don’t think of your future as what you’re meant to do. Think of it as what do you _want_ to do. And most of the time those two things should align. And if they don’t? Try again. You’ve got time Hopalong. Take a deep breath. You don’t have to have everything figured out right now.”

Lucas exhales loudly and shakily before going silent and still, resting his cheek on his textbook and seeming content to stay there as he thinks over what Maya has just said. Maya bites her bottom lip as she waits for him to respond, distracts herself with another sip of the hazelnut latte.

 

“You’re right.” Lucas says finally, his voice gentle and Maya smiles to herself fondly at that, feeling herself fill with pride as she turns the coffee cup over in her hands. “Of course you’re right. What the hell would I do without you?”

“Crash and burn.” Maya answers, and as she expects Lucas laughs, the sound bright and warm enough to bring Maya’s body more heat than the latte could ever expect to. And as Lucas’ laughter dies he pulls up, finally moving from his place across the desk into sitting position, looking towards Maya through the laptop gratefully. Maya takes this chance she has to get a good look at him, to see him as who he is in all hos glory instead of an unsatisfactory picture in her head or a drab portrait made by her uncooperative hands.

He’s wearing the parody Dallas Cowboy’s t-shirt that Maya got him last Christmas that instead says Huckleberry’s Cowboys proudly across the front, the shirt fitting him like a glove. His eyes are tired and purpled with sleep deprivation, but they’re also crinkling at the corners with a soft smile that Maya feels her own lips returning, but perhaps not for the reason that he is because –

Well.

“Wait, what’s going on with your hair?” Maya asks with a laugh, the sound escaping her without her notice as her grin widens. As Lucas’ face falls into one of dread, Maya can only laugh harder, her finger pointing at Lucas’ bizarrely long hair on the screen as she sets her coffee cup on her bedside table.

And just like that the feeling (of restless hearts and the world tipping) is gone like it never existed, has left her like it never had a place in her body in the first place.

 

“Seriously?” Lucas deadpans his face blank with it, and Maya laughs harder. “We _just_ had a really nice moment.”

“Yeah, but you look like you should be pals with Lincoln!”

“As in Abraham?” Lucas asks in confusion and Maya almost chokes on her building laughter, sputters slightly as she tries to gasp for breath. “Maya that makes no sense.”

“You know, I’ve got this friend named Cody who’s recently developed a ponytail and I…” Maya snorts, sputters out a few more giggles. “I could ask him for a few tips for you, Tarzan?”

“Are you serious right now? I do not look that bad-“ Lucas tries but Maya barks a sharp laugh that interrupts him, shaking her head in mirth as she does.

“You… you look like one of those h-hipsters …who thinks that record players are _the best thing ever invited_ …” Maya says with a snort, feeling tears build up in her eyes as she struggles to breathe. “and that the word ‘h-hipster’ is too m-mainstream-“

“What does that even _mean_ -“

“You-you look like your name is _Capricorn_ … “ Maya gasps, taking one look at Lucas’ unamused expression before she bursts into giggles again.

“Do you even know what you’re saying-“

But Maya only laughs harder, tears falling from the corners of her eyes as she falls back to lay on her back, her comforter under her cheek as she giggles into its fabric.

And just like that it’s all familiar because this is _Ranger Rick_. It’s _Lucas_ , and it’ll never matter how Maya _should_ care about him, how Maya _should_ think about him. All that matters is that she does.

And Lucas has never made her feel unsafe or uncomfortable or uncared for, and that’s the truth. That’s what matters. They’re Lucas and Maya and they always will be. Whether they’re friends or soulmates or anything in between, they’re still the same people they always have been at their core. They’ve changed and they’ve grown and they’re different but…somehow the one thing that has never changed is how they fit together.

Because love might fade but Huckleberry and Maya? Never will.

After Maya calms down some she stays laid down, her eyes looking up at the ceiling as she wipes her tears, “Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with guys having long hair, but Hee-Haw you _do not_ have the head shape to pull that off-!”

“Thank you, Maya!” Lucas interrupts loudly in annoyance and Maya chuckles slightly as she pushes herself back up into sitting position, taking one look at the laptop screen and Lucas’ dang hair before she cackles, her nose wrinkling with it as she begins to laugh anew.

“You look like Goldilocks’ weird older brother!” Maya exclaims through her laughter, clutching her stomach with one hand.

Lucas gives Maya a blunt look as he tucks a chunk of hair behind his ear, and Maya’s laughter escalates in sheer volume.

“Aha, i-it h-hurts…” Maya gasps as she curls in on herself, clutching her stomach as she laughs. “I-I can’t! You could be Fabbio’s side kick!”

“Who even is that?!” Lucas snaps, flicking his too long bangs out of his eyes, and Maya’s almost chokes in laughter, as she rolls right off her bed with the hilarity of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it! PB and Ray! (I’m sorry I had to make that terrible pun before I finished this fic, otherwise I’d never forgive myself) I hope you guys enjoyed it :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everybody in Maya’s life knows that she’s in love with Lucas and no one is subtle about it at all, ever.

**30 Days to Huckleberry Weekend**

“How long have you been here?”

Maya startles, blinking up from the canvas in front of her dazedly as she turns towards the voice that addressed her. Fletcher is staring at her with a raised brow, looking at her from the paint smudges on her cheeks down to the splatters on her bare toes. Maya opens her mouth to reply his question only to realize that she doesn’t actually know the answer.

Shit.

Maya blows out a long breath as she thinks, stirring the blonde hairs around her face that have escaped from her haphazard bun.

“When was the last time we hung out?” Maya asks and Fletcher’s eyebrows raise up into his hairline.

“Too long for you have gone without eating, or using the washroom, or _moving_ – god Maya, put that brush down, enough, let’s go.” Fletcher says as he pulls the brush from her hands. Maya lets the brush go in surprise, allowing Fletcher to push her by the shoulders towards her bedroom in slight confusion. It’s only when Fletcher slams the door behind her that Maya snaps out of the slight hangover that comes with being truly immersed in a piece of art, blinks and clears her mind finally.

 

When she does the first thing she uses clarity to do is obviously to snort.

 

“Wow, you go through the experience of supervised art for a few months and suddenly you’re the expert on healthy creative habits?” Maya asks cheekily as she wipes the paint off her fingers and onto her lucky denim painting shirt. Maya can hear Fletcher’s sputter of embarrassment through the door and she grins at it as she starts unbuttoning the worn buttons of the shirt.

“Shut up!” Fletcher stutters and Maya laughs brightly as she walks to her open closet to start picking out an outfit. “It’s not ‘supervised art’ it’s just her way of checking to make sure I’m okay.”

 

“Yeah-huh…” Maya says sarcastically as she grins, shrugging off the lucky painting shirt to replace it with a slightly battered band tee from the back of her closet.

 

“It’s concern, _healthy_ concern, and I think you could do to have a little of it yourself! Maybe I should call _Riley_.” Fletcher threatens teasingly as his voice seems to get further away from the door. Maya snorts.

 

“Yeah, well, considering Riley is in England right now at some kind of fancy journalism conference, good luck with that. And by ‘that’ of course I mean good luck scrounging up the long distance charges because you’re as broke as I am my friend.” Maya says bluntly as she wiggles into her skinny jeans, hopping up and down to get her foot through the left leg. Her phone falls out of her jean pocket as she shimmies into them, and she ignores the clatter it makes on the floor in favor of pulling the pants up higher.

 

“Wait, how have you been talking to her then?” Fletcher asks in confusion and Maya sighs as she buttons up the jeans, tucking half the hem of her band tee sloppily into them.

 

“Well, you see Grandpa Fletch, there’s this thing called the interwebs…” Maya teases as she bends to pick up her phone from the ground.

 

“Okay, that was uncalled for.” Maya laughs at the huff in Fletcher’s voice, walking over to her dresser to drop her phone on the vanity. When she drops her phone the button must press or something because the screen lights up brightly indicating that she has a missed message from Chelsea. Maya frowns at that, as she quickly begins tugging her hair out of her bun, wondering what Chelsea would have to say to her that they didn’t talk about a couple of days ago. Maya rolls her eyes up the ceiling as she thinks, her nimble hands begin to collect her hair into a ponytail.

“You must miss her.” Fletcher says from behind the door, cutting through Maya considerations and distracting her from the thought of her agent entirely. Maya pauses in combing her hair through her fingers, twists her lips unhappily in response to Fletcher’s statement. She shrugs even though Fletch can’t possibly see her through the door, and bites her lips gently.

 

“Well, we skype every other day and we text all the time so…” Maya shrugs again more to convince herself than Fletcher. She ties her hair off quickly, runs her fingers down the ponytail. “It’s fine.”

 

“You don’t have to pretend that you don’t miss her. Not with me. Remember, my best friends are across the world too. Ols is kicking ass at college and Chyna is in Brazil doing some concert stuff so…I get it. We’ll go get ice cream for breakfast to make you feel better.” Fletcher says brightly, and Maya feels herself smiling a bit, the weird feeling of being without Riley easing ever so slightly. “…Okay? I’m paying, promise! And you know what a big deal that is considering that the last pay check I made was for south of thirty bucks…”

 

Maya rolls her eyes and huffs a laugh. “You didn’t have to sell that sculpture for that cheap Fletch, it was worth at least three times that!”

 

“Well, I know that _now_.” Maya’s laugh is fond as she ties half her hair up, listening to Fletcher incomprehensible grumbling on the other side of the door. “And where were you when I was bargaining with that guy anyways, I could have used your savvy New Yorker skills!”

 

“Okay first of all, me and my savvy new Yorker skills aren’t always going to be there Fletcher. I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you a million times, sign up with Chelsea! She’ll keep you in check, I swear!” Maya says exasperatedly, as she checks her appearance in the mirror, grinning to make sure there’s nothing in her teeth, and fluffing out her hair. “And second, I was with Ranger Rick remember? I had to go down for his birthday that month.”

“Oh yeah, your life partner! How is he?”

Maya stills, fingers frozen halfway through her long hair. Her brow furrows slightly before she walks right up to her bedroom door, opening it suddenly and making Fletcher flail in place from where he was previously leaning against the doors surface. Maya stares at Fletcher for a moment as he rights himself, her head tilted in confusion.

 

“What did you just call him?”

“Your life partner.” Fletcher explains bluntly, and Maya makes a face. Fletcher laughs. “You know, like Riley. But maybe not, Riley’s a bit higher on the hierarchy isn’t she… maybe life _companion_?”

 

“What the hell are you on about Fletcher?” Maya asks as she turns back into her room to grab her combat boots off the floor.

 

“Well, it’s like a lover but more. He’s not your boyfriend and he’s not your romantic partner but he’s your _something_ -“

 

“Huckleberry is not my something.” Maya interrupts swiftly as she grabs her leather jacket. She uses the hand that she has her boots in to point at Fletcher purposefully. “You take that back right now.”

Fletcher laughs at that, shaking his head in amusement as Maya pushes passed him out of the room.

“Maya, you buy a plane ticket every month just to visit the guy.” Fletcher deadpans with a raised brow and Maya opens her mouth to reply but Fletcher cutes her off. “You don’t even do that for _Riley_ -“

“That’s because Riley comes to _me_ , and also because she’s usually all over the world not just across the country, and also _how is this any of your business_?” Maya snaps quickly and Fletcher shrugs.

“Because I’m the guy buying you ice cream?” He says easily and Maya’s eyes narrow.

“Fletcher.” Maya says warningly, but she must be going soft because Fletcher leans casually against the doorframe of her bedroom and continues.

“You and Charlie wrote him a song for his birthday, you wear his shirt to paint, you went to prom with him I’m pretty sure, you talk to him once a day at least, every time he sends you a text you smile, you have a painting inspired by a moment the two of you had together in your bedroom, and don’t think I don’t know who that painting you’ve been working on since we last hung out is of-“

 

“I haven’t made a portrait of him in ages and his face has changed Fletch-“ Maya starts but Fletcher scoffs.

“His face has changed? Really? Who even notices that but mothers and lovers, Maya you’re not helping your case here.” Fletcher says with a roll of his eyes and Maya wrinkles her nose in confusion. Fletcher huffs, and tries again. “Okay, so tell me this Maya. How would Lucas feel about you not eating or sleeping or moving for upwards of forty eight hours?”  

Maya’s freezes.

“Well we’ll never know will we?” Maya asks pointedly, but at Fletcher’s raised brow Maya feels her confidence wane. “Because you’re not going to tell him right? Fletcher? You’re _not_ -”

 

“I don’t know, maybe.” Fletcher says with a shrug, and Maya stares at him in disbelief for a moment while Fletcher considers her. Fletcher shifts his jaw in thought and shrugs again, going for nonchalance and missing by about half a mile. “I bet he’d be worried about you.”

“That doesn’t mean anything Fletcher.” Maya says without hesitation, her brow furrowing farther.

“Actually that means a lot of things.” Fletcher says with a frown, and Maya rolls her eyes.

“Fletch-“

“I bet he’d text you every day just to make sure you eat. I bet he’d ask you to send him pictures of your meals and of you eating them. I bet when he comes to visit he’d cook for you, even though he probably sucks in the kitchen, just to make sure you were eating something that doesn’t consist of string cheese and stale Doritos.” Fletcher says easily and Maya feels her heart hammering in her chest, in her hands, in her feet. She ignores the feeling and turns from Fletcher, shoves her bare feet into her boots hastily.

She purses her lips and starts to lace up her boots with nimble fingers, not even looking in Fletcher’s direction as she does it. “Sounds like a nightmare.”

 

“Sounds like love.” Fletcher says shortly in reply and Maya stills. “Sounds like someone who cares enough about you to make them crazy. And you know what? I bet he’d do all that and more, because I might have only met the guy a couple of times, but from what I’ve seen of him? He cares about you. A lot. It’s like you’re the center of his universe or something.”

Maya’s traitorous heart stutters again at Fletcher’s words, and May closes her eyes slowly, tries to calm the palpitations with will alone. “Fletcher-“

“Maya, why can’t you just accept the fact that he _cares_ about you-?” Fletcher starts and Maya’s entire body flushes hot in response to his words, which does nothing but anger her because they’re _not true_.

“Because it’s not like that!” Maya snaps sharply, and Fletcher rolls his eyes towards the ceiling in exasperation. “We’re _friends,_ Fletch-!”

“Maya, I don’t have Avery supervise me sculpting.” Fletcher interjects irritably. “I have an alarm on my phone to remind me when to eat and sleep _and take a damn break every once and a while_. I don’t need her to remind because all I have to do is think about how much it’d eat at _me_ if she was doing what I was doing. If she went days without a meal, if she crashed once every fortnight from pure exhaustion, if she didn’t so much as twitch out of place for hours on end. How much I’d _worry_ about her. I don’t want her to go through that. I don’t want to hurt her because _I love her_.”

“I’m _not_ hurting him-“ Maya says sharply. “I would _never_ -”

Fletcher raises a knowing brow that makes Maya rethink her statement, makes her purse her lips before speaking again.

“I _wouldn’t_ hurt him and I won’t cause it’s not like he knows about this, and he is never going to know so _it’ll be fine_ -”

“Maya do you trust me?” Fletcher asks abruptly, and Maya looks up at him in surprise at the question. But the genuine sincerity in Fletcher’s eyes makes her pause, gives her a moment of hesitation before she nods. Fletcher sighs when she does, tightens his lips as he runs his eyes over her expression. “Then why won’t you admit it? I’ve known you for two years and it’s written all over you that you have feelings for this guy… and it’s not like I want to know just to know, you know? I want to help you, so you can talk about it and stuff. I mean…have you even told Riley?”

Maya feels her heart beating out of her body for a terrifying moment, feels her blood run cold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Fletcher looks hurt for a moment, raises both brows. “So now we’re lying to each other?”

“No – I!” Maya starts quickly, but Fletcher’s lips have been thinned into a tight line. Maya let’s her gaze fall to her boots, studies the scuffs on them like they might hold the answers to how to handle this conversation. “I don’t want to talk about it Fletch. Okay?”

Fletcher is quiet for so long that Maya doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t even seem to breathe from across the space of Maya’s apartment before he finally sighs reluctantly.

“Okay fine. We won’t talk about it, Maya,” Fletcher says softly, and Maya looks up at him through a curtain of blonde hair and sees the kindness on his features, the sympathy. She looks away. “Just…how would you feel if it was Lucas pulling this shit at school? Miles away where you couldn’t get to him to smack him upside the head? If he kept it from you?”

Maya opens her mouth to reply, but the words get lodged somewhere in her throat, make her pause. Because as much as Maya doesn’t particularly care if it’s her, if it was Huckleberry –

She’d being worried fucking sick.

“It’s not the same for him.” Maya says lowly, “He doesn’t… ”

 

_He doesn’t love me._

“Wanna bet?” Fletcher asks, and Maya rolls her eyes to help distract her from the hotness of them, says nothing as she twists her lips unhappily. “Eat a freaking apple Maya.”

 

Fletcher doesn’t even have to say another word before Maya gets up from the couch and goes towards the kitchen, pulls a bruised apple out of her fridge silently.

“You’re like five, how do you even get this life advice from? Are you a wise old man inside?” Maya mutters as she pushes passed him towards the front door, taking a large bite out of her apple on the way.

“You do remember that my last paycheck was twenty-four dollars right?”

“Oh yeah, you’re still an idiot.”

.

.

**24 Days to Huckleberry Weekend**

“So have you told him yet?”

Maya’s fork pauses halfway to her mouth, the thick pasta noodle balancing on the end of it falling off and plopping down into her bowl. Across from her Camden has his hands crossed in front of him, eyes looking at Maya from beneath his thick blonde curls. Maya looks between him and the other child at his side in confusion as she chews.

“Told who what?” Maya asks as she stabs her fork back into her bowl. Chloe snorts beside Maya and Maya raises a brow in surprise, turning to look at the red head in question.

“Don’t play dumb. We all know who Evans is blabbering about!” Chloe says as she points her mac and cheese coated fork at Maya. Maya raises a single brow at Chloe and silently points to the broccoli on the side of her plate. Chloe wrinkles her nose in disgust, staring at the vegetables forlornly as she stabs into a broccoli crown.

“Here’s a hint. He’s strong, rides sheep, and can make you smile wide enough to light up a dark room.” Zuri says from Camden’s side, pushing the sushi on her plate around idly with a pair of chopsticks. “Plus he also has really good hair…Don’t tell Tony I said that though. He’ll probably take it as a challenge.”

Exasperation slips onto Maya’s features at that statement, and she turns to the young boy front of her with reluctance. “What exactly do you expect me to have told Ranger Rick?”

Camden’s brow furrows sweetly as he looks between the girls around him, his blue eyes innocent. “That you love him a lot.”

Maya wants to be annoyed, she really does, but Camden is six and too honest for his own good, has glasses that slip down his button nose and big eyes that remind Maya of his dad (well, one of them), and so Maya couldn’t even be annoyed with him if she tried.

She sighs slowly, looks over the kid with slightly critical eyes. “Now who told you that?”

“Miss Chelsea.”

“Miss Chelsea huh?” Maya asks in consideration as her eyes flick to a picture of the said woman on the Livingston’s apartment wall. Her agent and her agent’s husband smile back at Maya from the photograph on the wall, both of them smiling so wide that their cheeks bulge. The photograph reminds Maya suddenly of the unchecked message still on her phone, makes her eyes widen in realization as she reaches into her back pocket for her cell.

“Are you going to marry Lucas?”

“What?!” Maya near shouts in surprise, promptly dropping her phone behind her chair, making it clatter loudly to the floor. Both Chloe and Zuri seem to find her reaction hilarious while Camden only looks innocently bewildered, his brow furrowing as he looks between the two giggling girls. “No, Camden, Huckleberry… _Lucas_ _and I_ are not getting married.”

“But you love him.” Camden says matter of factly, and Maya sighs.

“Stop saying that Cam.” Maya says tiredly as she drops her fork into her bowl.

“How come?”  Camden asks sweetly and Maya can think of a million reasons.

_Because he doesn’t love me._

_Because it’s not like I can have him anyways._

_Because I don’t **want** to love him anymore, dammit._

“ _Because_ , okay?!” Maya snaps instead, and Camden pouts dramatically.

“Because is not an answer!” Camden cries out and Maya grimaces, remember Chelsea’s baby girl napping in the nursery. It took her over an hour to get that brat to sleep, and she is not having the kid wake up for the rest of the night if she had anything to do with it, or at least until Chelsea and Newt come home to take care of their own offspring.

“Look, Cam, sometimes you love people but it’s not the kind of love that you get married for.” Maya explains quickly, and Camden wrinkles his nose.

“What kind of love is that?”

“The friend kind.” Maya explain and Chloe, who has been looking at her broccoli in disgust up until now, pipes up.

“I think you’re the only one who still thinks that. Last time you guys babysat me together everyone at the park thought you were boyfriend and girlfriend. All the moms kept saying how cute you were and if you could babysit there kids and blah, blah, blah.” Chloe says as she drops the broccoli back onto her plate with a frown of disgust. Maya looks at Chloe in confusion.

“What?”

“Oh did I not tell you that? I must have forgotten in the haze of confusion caused by broccoli and other green vegetables. Have you heard of it? Apparently it only affects young children ages-!”

“Nice try, but you’re eating it.” Maya interjects smoothly, pushing Chloe’s plate closer to her. Chloe’s face pinches to the point that it looks like a pale raisin but Maya is distracted from it by Camden patting her forearm insistently with a caramel colored hand. Maya looks to the boy who’s grinning widely, the gap in his front teeth displayed.

“So you _do_ love him! Can I be the ring bear at your wedding?” Camden asks happily and Maya gaps for a moment as Zuri folds her lips over a smile. Maya takes a deep breath and grabs Camden’s little hand between both of her own, looks him right in the eye.

“Camden. Ranger Rick and I are not getting married. And also, ‘the ring bear’ is not a thing.”

“But you love him.” Camden says bluntly, completely blocking out the ring bear comment in a way that only small children can, and Maya sighs deeply in response.

“Even if I _do_ love Sundance, Cam, which I’m not saying I do, but _if_ -”

Zuri snorts, shaking her head as she swallows the last of a California roll. “You’re not fooling anybody sister…”

“ _If_!” Maya repeats almost fiercely and Zuri holds up both hands in innocence. “Even if that was the case kid, sometimes you love people and you don’t get married, Camden. Sometimes you love people and you don’t even kiss!”

Zuri nods solemnly in agreement to this.

“That’s love for scaredy cats Cam, you’ll learn about it when you get to the second grade.” Zuri says wisely, patting the small child on the shoulder and Camden only seems more confused if anything.

“If you love him and he loves you why wouldn’t you get married?” Camden asks in bewilderment. “My Papa loves my Daddy and _they_ got married. They went all the way to _Canada_ just to get married.”

“Yes Camden, we all know how in love your parents are!” Maya says with a roll of her eyes, feeling her patience wear thin. “But you see, Huckleberry doesn’t love me like that so we can’t get married. Not that _I_ even love _him_ , just to make that clear-“

“But he does love you.” Camden says bluntly and Maya gives the small child a deadpan look.

“No, he does not-“

“Yes he does.” Chloe interrupts and Maya takes her hands away from Camden just to throw them in the air.

“No, he does not!”

“He does.” Zuri says with a nod and Maya is at the end of her rope, slams both of her palms down onto the table in frustration.

“Okay, even if he _does_ , which he _doesn’t_ ,” Maya snaps sharply, looking at each child in turn as she feels her frustration over flow into her words. “Some of us, the unlucky few of us who have dungeons of sadness and can never be happy just don’t _get_ stuff like that. Don’t get marriages with ring bears to guys who ride sheep and have good hair, don’t get the happy ending. No, people like _that_ set their best friend up with the guys who they will later fall in love with, make promises to said best friend not to marry the guy they will later fall in love with, become _best friends_ with the guy they will later fall in love with! And when their best friend’s relationship with the guy that they will later fall in love with, who has also, of course, become their _other best friend_ , ends up falling apart, said person with dungeons of sadness and unhappy endings will _promise_ to be there for _both_ of them _no matter what_ because that’s _just the kind of idiot she is_! And guess what kiddies? Being there for both of them? Does _not mean_ making out with one of them! Those two things just don’t coincide. They _don’t_.

And even if all that wasn’t already in play, even if none of that had ever happened, there is one thing that trumps all that and you know what that is? Above all else, no matter absolutely what, the one thing that people with dungeons of sadness _don’t get_? They do not _ever_ get the people they love to love them back, because that, my sweet summer child, is just not in their genetic makeup!” Maya blurts out in a rush of frustration, her nostrils flaring in fierceness by the end of it. She blinks out of her outburst to see Camden and the girls staring at her with wide eyes, feels her mouth fall open slightly as she realizes what she just sad to a bunch of _kids_.

Sh…crap.

“Don’t tell your parents I said that. Um. Eat your vegetables.” Maya mumbles in embarrassment, watches Zuri softly push Camden’s mouth shut.

“I won’t.” Chloe swears before patting Maya on the shoulder awkwardly, “If you promise you won’t force me to eat this broccoli.”

“I won’t if you let us have candy for dinner.” Zuri says slyly and Camden’s eyes bulge at the very idea.

“What she said!” Chloe shouts quickly and Maya sighs deeply not a moment before Sullivan starts crying inside of her nursery, screaming her lungs out to signify she’s up from her nap. Maya closes her eyes in dread as the girls scramble from both their chairs over to the kitchen, covers her eyes with her hand tiredly. But before she can really sink into her humiliation and dread she is brought out of the hole she was planning to crawl deep into by Camden is tapping her forearm repeatedly. She cracks open her fingers to look at the small child who’s staring at her with utmost seriousness.

“You’re gonna get married to him. The princess in the stories always marries her prince and even though you’re a _weird_ princess, you look like Rapunzel and you paint like her too, so you count. And Lucas acts like a prince sometimes and he rides _sheep_ , which are like horses but fuzzy, so he counts too! And he’s nice! He brings me chocolates! So you _have_ to marry him! So that he keeps bringing me presents.” Camden explains solemnly. “And _when_ you get married to him _I’m_ going to be the ring bear. Promise?”

Maya opens her mouth to disagree, to refute just about everything that just came out of the child’s mouth but at the loud sound of Sullivan’s wailing and the crash of the cookie jar falling to the ground in the kitchen she feels the fight drain right out of her.

“Okay Camden. You can be the ring bear.”

“Promise!” Camden says firmly, holding out his small pinky to Maya. Maya stares at it in exasperation, feeling her lips twitch as she wraps her own pinky around his. “You gotta do the thing!”

Maya feels her lips curl up, tightens her pinky around his small one. “I, Maya Penelope Hart, pinky swear promise to you, Camden Baylor Evans, to make you the ring bear at the wedding of myself and Lucas Friar, if it happens.”

“ _When_ it happens. I _will_ be a ring bear.” Camden nods seriously, swinging their joined hands back and forth. “You can’t break a promise.”

“No you can’t.” Maya sighs out, grimacing at a particularly loud scream from the nursery. “Okay kid, come on, you can finish your dinner after. Looks like the little member of MayaVille Junior Tikes is not having a good time. We gotta go hang out with her for a bit.”

Camden shoves a noodle into his mouth with a chubby hand and crawls down from the chair to grab Maya’s hand. “You’re weird Maya but you’re my favorite.”

“Right back at ya Cam. You really got a bear costume?”

“Auntie Sharpay got it for me for my birthday.”

“Of course she did.”

.

.

**19 Days to Huckleberry Weekend**

****“So, one more time, why are we doing this again?” Maya asks as she makes a slight face at the oddly shaped faceless cushion in her hands, starts to turn it over until she can finds an angle that makes the thing look semi-flattering.

She doesn’t.

“To _bond_ Maya!” Riley says brightly, grinning from her place across the table from Maya, sewing into her own oddly shaped cushion. “Olivia and Wen did it last mouth and they said it brought them even closer together! Lexi did it with her last boyfriend and she said it pretty much saved their relationship until she left him of course.”

Maya pauses in the stilted motion of her sewing a button onto where she thinks the cushions eye should be, turns to Riley and raises a brow. “You think our relationship needs saving?”

“No!” Riley says loudly, making the all the other couples in the room turn to them in surprise. Riley sinks down into her seat and blushes, making Maya snicker softly as she continues to sew a loose eye onto her cushion. Riley pouts, and kicks Maya under the table, making Maya laugh harder. “Of course not! I just thought it might be fun and that we could catch up and stuff…”

“Catch up on _what_ stuff? Riley, we talk to each other like every day.” Maya deadpans and Riley shrugs, picking at a thread on the edge of her cushions arm. Maya eyes widen slightly as a grin slowly begins to stretch across her face. She nudges Riley’s foot with her own to get her friends attention, delighting in Riley’s slightly embarrassed wince. “What _haven’t_ you told me?”

 

“Nothing!” Riley says loudly, causing an elderly couple down the table from them to glare at them. Riley shrinks in her seat slightly and waves apologetically at the couple before whispering. “In fact we’re here to talk about _you_. What’s new Maya, what’s happening in your life, what have I missed, anything cool, anything hip, anything _wild_ -?”

“Spit it out.” Maya says firmly and Riley eyes widen dramatically.

“Spit what out, there’s nothing to spit because there’s nothing happening with me, we’re here to talk about _you_ -!”

Maya takes a deep breath, leans back in her chair so that it’s balancing on its back legs and loudly begins to sing, “Riley, tell me what’s wrong Riley, you’re my friend and I love you and we’re in this room full of couples making ugly bears and I’m _singing_ so tell me what’s wrong Rileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-“

“I’m into Farkle!” Riley blurts out and Maya falls straight out of her chair and onto the floor making Riley gasp, putting both hands over her mouth. “Oh my god are you-?”

 

“ _You’re into Farkle_!?” Maya asks as she scrambles back up, eyes bulging and Riley’s mouth is open in a guilty frown she shakes her head. “Since _when_?!”

“Since I went to visit him in England!” Riley exclaims, leaning across the table towards Maya in her panic. Maya looks around the room warily as she rights her chair and sits back down, stares at her friend with wide eyes. “I was helping him study for his political science thing and we were just talking about stuff and _stuff_ and he said that he was glad that he finally got over me, and that after all these years we could be _just friends_ but then I was like, ‘do I wanna be just friends?’ but I didn’t _say_ that because that would be talking crazy, it would be stupid, tell me it’s stupid Maya, I’m being stupid right?”

Maya stares at Riley with wide eyes, her mouth trying to form words that won’t come out and Riley looks even more wild at that.

“You’re not telling me it’s stupid, why aren’t you telling me it’s stupid? It’s stupid!” Riley exclaims and Maya throws her hands up in the air.

“Riles, I don’t know if it’s stupid!” Maya replies honestly and Riley is almost hyperventilating.

“That’s because it’s crazy, right? Tell me it’s crazy Maya! I’m just being crazy!” Riley rambles, searching Maya’s face and Maya flails slightly in helplessness. “I must be pulling a Riley because I _cannot_ be into Farkle, I just can’t!”

“Why not?” Maya asks and Riley looks like she’s about to combust.

“Because he’s _Farkle_!” Riley bursts out, and Maya brow wrinkles in confusion. Riley’s mouth twists unhappily as she sinks back into her chair, her eyes falling to the plush in her hands as she speaks lowly. “He’s not just some cute guy I met on the streets of Italy or some hot guy a met on a beach in Australia. I can’t just flirt with him and hope it works out, and eat a bunch of ice cream if it doesn’t. He’s _Farkle_. He’s not just some guy, he’s one of the most important people in my life and I can’t… After Lucas? I can’t do that again Maya. I almost lost one of my best friends. I can’t risk that again!”

“Riley, you have to tell him how you feel.” Maya says decisively and Riley’s wide eyes snap up to her, flicking over her face to gauge her seriousness.

“How did you get that, from what I just said? That is not a sensible solution collected from what I just said!” Riley asks and Maya waves the comment off hastily. “Maya, I _can’t_ -“

“What if _he’s_ your Topanga?” Maya asks softly, and Riley looks at Maya in disbelief.

“You always said the ‘Cory and Topanga is genetic theory’ was ridiculous.” Riley says quietly and Maya shrugs.

“That’s because it is. But _you_ believe in it, and soulmates and all that jazz! What if Farkle is _the one_?” Maya asks and Riley looks complete taken aback.

“I stopped looking for my Topanga after we graduated high school!” Riley hisses as she starts to sew a star button onto her plush for an eye, Maya distractedly begins to sew another eye onto her own plush, not even paying attention to where it is this time.

“That doesn’t mean he’s not out there!” Maya insists, and Riley starts sewing wildly faster in stress.

“That doesn’t mean he’s _Farkle_!” Riley counters, and Maya shrugs, picks up her plush and looks at it critically, her lips twitching as she examines it’s frumpy face. This one is definitely going to Hopalong.

“But how do you know he’s _not_?” Maya responds, and Riley pushes the ugly plush down from Maya’s line of sight and onto the craft table.

“Maya!” Riley hisses.

“Riley.” Maya says back calmly, feeling herself settle into the idea more and more as the conversation continues because-

Riley and Farkle.

Huh.

It makes sense.

“If you don’t try, If you never give it a chance…” Maya says slowly, resting her hands gently on top of the plush as she speaks. She raises an eyebrow at Riley’s widening eyes, smiles at her friend sympathetically. “Will you regret it?”

Riley is silent for a long moment, looking at some spot above Maya’s shoulder unseeingly. Maya’s brow furrows when that moment continues into a minute, starts to wave her hand in front of Riley’s face to get her attention. When that gets no response, Maya frowns before pulling her phone out of her pocket and beginning to text Huckleberry, taking a picture of the ugly stuffed animal for reference.

Maya spots the message from Chelsea again and tries to gauge in her mind whether or not she has enough time to listen to it, but before she’s even finished the thought Riley finally speaks, words soft and awed she says, “I’m going to ask out Farkle.”

Maya grins brightly, sitting up straighter in her chair as she says, “Yeah you are!”

“I’m going to ask out _Farkle_.” Riley repeats in disbelief and Maya fist pumps.

“Bring on the baby Minkii!”

“Maya, no.”

“Maya, yes!” Maya replies and Riley shakes her head in amusement at her friend, picking up her plush from the craft table and looking at it for a quiet moment before starting again. Maya folds her lips over a smile as she starts sewing another arm onto Boogley. “ _Riley Farkle Minkus._ ”

Riley’s lip twitch into a smile that she tries to hide as she smacks her friend on the arm, but at Maya’s burst of laughter Riley grins. “Maya stop! I don’t even know if he’s going to say yes or not-!”

“Why wouldn’t he say yes? He’s been into you your whole life-“

“Until now!” Riley points out, and Maya shrugs.

“So? Being in love with someone that long…it doesn’t just go away.”

“Tell that to his girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry whaaaaa?” Maya says eyes wide and eyebrows raised. Riley grimaces in response, making Maya huff a shocked breath of laughter. “Explain.”

“Well maybe she’s not his ‘girlfriend’ but they’ve gone on a few dates. Her names Paisley and she’s super pretty and nice and _blonde_ and she’s a _model_ and is _really_ into Farkle.” Riley says tiredly, her nose pinching in slight distaste. “Apparently she’s been flirting with him from most of his semester in Europe but Farkle only asked her out now because-“

“He’d been holding out for you.” Maya finishes and Riley purses her lips and nods.

“Yeah.”

“So you’re going to steal him back?” Maya asks with a raised brow, and Riley wrinkles her nose into an even tighter pinch as she starts to sew another button onto her plush.

“I have no right to do that. Not after what I put him through I can’t butt into his life just because I suddenly decided I’m into him… But… I’m going to tell him how I feel and…hope for the best?” Riley says uncertainly and Maya nods.

“That’s my girl.” Maya says with a nod of approval as she starts carefully sewing up a slowly growing hole in Boogley’s side, and Riley smiles brightly in reply.

“So,” Riley says as she sets down her plush. “Now we’re going to talk about the fact that you’re in love with Lucas.”

Maya promptly stabs herself in the thumb with her pin, gasping in pain as she looks up to her friend in a combination of shock and betrayal. Riley smiles sweetly, folding her hands _like so_ as she stares Maya down from across the table.

“And don’t ask if we can talk about this later because I’ve been waiting for this conversation for three years and we are having it. Now. In the middle of a craft room filled with old people and couples.” Riley demands calmly, and Maya’s mouth gaps as she begins to look for an exit. Riley yanks the pin out of Maya’s thumb, simultaneously  making her friend hiss in pain and manipulation her attention. “Don’t be a baby, it’s just a pin. So. You’re in love with Lucas.”

“I’m not-“ Maya starts but Riley’s eyes narrow.

“You’re in love with Lucas.”

“I wouldn’t say love-“

“You are in love with Lucas!” Riley says firmly and probably a bit too loudly, the couple behind Riley’s back starts sending Maya looks and whispering to each other, both men’s smiles curling curiously.

“Maybe kinda.” Maya says quickly, averting her eyes from the gossiping couple over Riley’s shoulder, and Riley nods in approval of the answer.

 

“And you haven’t tried to date him because of me?” Riley asks softly, and Maya’s eyes go wide.

“No!”

Riley gives Maya a look that makes her wince.

“Well, not completely…?”

“Well first of all, you don’t have to worry about me. I want you happy and _Lucas makes you happy_. And I want Lucas happy and _you make Lucas happy_ so…see? Win-win situation for Riley! I have absolutely no issues with it whatsoever.” Riley says with a smile, and as if that’s all there is to it, she drops the pin in her hand and picks up her own plush, continuing on with sewing on a forth button. Maya’s brow puckers as she shakes out the pain in her hand, stares at Riley in bewilderment as she sews. Riley glances up from the stuffed animal pointedly, raises a brow at her best friend. “Okay, what else?”

“Well, let’s start with the fact that he doesn’t feel the same way.” Maya says firmly, and Riley stops sewing abruptly.

“He said that?” She asks softly, and Maya gives her friend a deadpan look.

“Riley. We’ve known him since the seventh grade. If he was going to make a move by now, he would’ve.” Maya says and Riley gives Maya the second _look_ of what will probably be many in this conversation.

“So he _hasn’t_ said that. You’ve _assumed_ that. Have you guys even _talked_ about it?” Riley asks kindly, and Maya grimaces. Riley sighs, puts her plush back down. “I’m going to take that as a no.”

“Riley-“

“It’s been over three years Maya.” Riley says gently, eyes flicking over her friends face compassionately. “Ten years if you count before you fell in love with him, You loved him before that too. If we count all the years you’ve loved him then it’s been almost ten years. Almost ten years of you guys becoming closer than anybody ever expected, almost ten years of inside jokes and nicknames and loving each other without aim. Two years of you guys doing everything you can to see each other, two years of you guys basically becoming a single unit. For a while there I thought that you guys might’ve been dating behind my back or something, because, god, the way he looks at you Maya. I can tell you one thing, Lucas never looked at me like that. And I’ve watched you look at him the same way for too long without opening my mouth. You two have something special, something that could make your lives so much more beautiful. And want to be together, even if you’re both too stubborn to notice it! Tell him how you feel. Tell him that you love him.”

Maya’s mouth opens and closes as she stares at her friend, overwhelmed by her speech even as she shrinks under her friend’s firm resolve. Maya swallows hard and avoids Riley eyes, looks down at the craft table. “It’s not that easy-“

“It is that easy. It might be hard, but the steps are simple.” Riley says solidly, beginning to find a rhythm in her sewing, she glances up at her stuffed animal to look at Maya, raising a brow challengingly. “I thought you said that when it came down to it you wouldn’t be nervous?”

“I’m not nervous, I’m terrified…” Maya whispers and Riley blinks in surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared of anything…”

Riley bends her head to make eye contact with Maya, holds Maya’s attention as she speaks softly, “It’s scary because it matters.”

“Yeah but what if it’s scary because it’s something I’m not supposed to do?” Maya asks in response, and Riley’s brow furrows.

“The same thing can be said about me and Farkle.”

“That’s different.” Maya insists, and Riley shakes her head firmly.

“It really isn’t.”

“I’ve had feelings for Huckleberry longer than you have for Farkle-!” Maya points out and Riley brightens dramatically.

“Oh, are we admitting that now? That you were into him for a long time? We’re admitting it?” Riley says excitedly and Maya gives her friend and exhasperated look. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just so happy we’re out of the denial stage.”

“I wasn’t in denial.” Maya says with a rolls of her eyes and Riley raises both brows in surprise.

“You see that? That’s denial. Maybe you’re not familiar with the definition.” Riley says slowly, and Maya huffs, throwing her hands up in frustration.

“I’m talking about it aren’t I?” Maya says pointedly, and Riley shrugs. “So, not denial-”

“No, you were definitely in denial. But this!” Riley says brightly in reply, taking a pair of scissors from the mug in the middle of the craft table and cutting thread between her stuffie eye and her pin. “This is progress! You’ve come a long way, Maya! Now you just have to tell him!”

 

“Riley, I _can’t_.” Maya says weakly, and Riley shakes her head.

“Maya you can. I know you can. You’ve done it before.”

“That’s just it Riles! I’ve done it before! And look how that turned out?” Maya says dejectedly, picking up her plushie and staring at it as she sighs. “In my experience? Confessing to the guy you’re into doesn’t end up well.”

“Uncle Josh.” Riley says in realization and Maya feels her heart ache just at his name.

“Good ol’ Uncle Boing.” Maya says gloomily as she starts to pick at a loose thread on the plush. Riley looks at her friend sadly, reaching for the hand Maya’s fidgeting with to still it.

“Maya, just because it didn’t work out with him doesn’t mean nothing ever will-“ Riley says gently but Maya interrupts.

“Yeah, but you said it before Riley. I can never be happy.” Maya says easily, and Riley’s mouth drops open in disbelief.

“Out of everything I’ve ever said to you _that’s_ what sticks?” Riley asks in amazement and Maya shrugs. Riley squeezes Maya’s hand firmly, looks her friend directly in the eyes. “Maya, I was thirteen and an _idiot_.”

“That doesn’t mean you weren’t right!” Maya protests and Riley stares at her incredulously. “Every relationship I’ve had in my life has failed Riley, and the ones that really mattered? Have failed _miserably_. What if me telling Huckleberry how I feel about him just…ruins everything? It’ll be a million times worse than it was with Josh and I don’t know if I can lose someone else…”

“You can’t really think that.” Riley deadpans and when Maya only grimaces in reply Riley’s eyes widen. “Oh my god, _you really think that_ – Maya. You _can_ be happy. You’re _meant_ to be happy, I was thirteen and an idiot and didn’t mean it sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

“Riley, I didn’t mean to-“ Maya interjects guiltily, but Riley interrupts her.

“No. I messed up and I’m sorry.” Riley says firmly, taking Maya’s hand in both of hers. “Peaches, you deserve the world just as much as me or any other girl does and there is absolutely no reason why Lucas shouldn’t love you, okay? You’re amazing and just because Josh wasn’t it for you doesn’t mean Lucas isn’t your Topanga or Cory, or whatever, I don’t know, you seem like more of a Topanga to me.”

“Where is this going?” Maya asks in confusion, and Riley brings a hand to her friend’s cheek gently.

“I’m trying to tell you that you are worthy of happiness and that I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel otherwise.” Riley says softly, and Maya feels her heart warm.

“Riley, you don’t have to-“

“No, Maya don’t…” Riley says as she winces, stroking her thumb along Maya’s cheekbone. “I was wrong. Do you forgive me?”

Maya exhales slowly, looking at her friend steadily as Riley’s guilt manifests on her face. After a bit Maya sighs, brings her free hand up to the hand on her cheek and pats it tenderly. “Of course.”

“Yeah?” Riley asks eyes still guilty and Maya smiles gently at her.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Okay, good.” Riley says as a wobbly smile starts to make its way onto her face. She takes a deep breath before removing her hand from Maya’s cheek and grabbing Maya’s hand from where it is over hers, placing both of their joined hands on the table in front of them. “So this is what we’re going to do. First I’m going to give you a hug. Then we’re going to finish these plush toys, find the first bar we can, get you a bit drunk, get me a bit sugar high from about two dozen virgin Shirley temples and then we’re going to head back to your place, watch Friends, and end the night painting my face! And we won’t talk about Lucas or Farkle and anything but us for the rest of my visit because I only have two more days with you and I want to spend them _with you_. Sound good?”

Maya feels a smile slowly begin to stretch over her lips, can almost feel the walls of her dungeon of sadness closing in, making the room smaller, less all encompassing. She sees her phone light up with a text message from the corner of her eye, feels her heart stutter at the name on the screen, and takes a deep breath to distract herself from it. “Sounds great.”

.

.

**16 Days to Huckleberry Weekend**

****“… So yeah, that’s basically what’s happening! But don’t forget, it’s all totally up to you, you know, you can say no and turn him down it won’t be a problem or anything! I mean who cares if your broke and can’t pay your bills or for that plane ticket to see your boyfriend or for food or clothes, as I always say, art in itself is a reward and –Newt babe, no you can’t give that to her… No, Newt she doesn’t have teeth yet, Rae says she can’t eat stuff that isn’t mushed up… I don’t care if Cory said she could, what does _Cory_ know about babies? …You know what, we’re never going to get anywhere with this, let’s just call Mr. And Mrs. Baxter, they’ll know what to do. Oh, yeah, Maya! Okay I gotta go bye, thanks for babysitting and stuff bye, okay? bye – “

Maya frowns at the phone as the dial tone goes off, hanging up from Chelsea’s voicemail with a furrowed brow. She stares at the phone for a long moment before looking up from it to the painting across from her bed, a painting of a wild and beautiful landscape behind the bars of a jail cell. The bars made of tearing paper that sinewy green vines curl around and flowers peak through, the color bright and striking against the white of the bars. It’s one of Maya’s favorite paintings she’s ever done, not because of the price tag on it but because of what it means to her.

And now someone wants to buy it.

But Maya’s not sure if she’s ready to let go of it.

Before Maya can really get too deeply into her own head her buzzer rings. Maya perks up at the sound, her brow furrowing at the muffed noises that the follow the buzz. She unfolds from her cross legged position on the bed and slowly walks to the intercom, listening to the odd thudding sound with more and more confusion as she gets closer to it. The person on the other end of the com groans and Maya makes a face, presses the button hesitantly.

“Hello?” She asks warily before releasing the button and waiting. The thudding sound stops abruptly and the line is silent enough to make Maya’s confusion build further.

“…Hi…” A weak voice says on the other side of the line and Maya’s brows raise up into her hairline.

“Charlie?” She asks hesitantly and she can hear Charlie breathe into the speaker, wrinkles her nose at the sound. “Charlie is that you? Babe, what are you doing? Did you forget the code for Stella’s place?”

 

“No, I …Can I please come up?” Charlie asks gently and Maya nods before realizing that he can’t see her.

“Of course Charlie, of course, um…” Maya presses the button to let him in quickly, her brows furrowing further at Charlie’s muffled thanks. She spends most of the wait for Charlie to get up the stairs biting her thumb nail in worry, and when she finally opens the door to him it’s worse than she imagined. Charlie is standing there in one shoe, hugging a carton of Rocky Road with one arm and a bottle of grey goose with the other, wearing an oddly stained shirt and the look of a kicked puppy, pout and all. His eyes are slightly glazed over with what Maya already knows to be drunkenness, but Maya can tell by the unhappy twist of his lips that he’s sobering up quickly. “Oh, honey…”

“Hi…” Charlie says softly, scuffing his socked foot on the carpeted floors of the hallway and Maya feels her heart ache with sympathy as she pulls him inside, rubbing his shoulder kindly as she closes the door. “Sorry to come so late or…or early? What… what time is it?”

“It doesn’t matter Charlie, of course it’s fine, don’t worry about it just…” Maya takes the carton of ice cream and bottle of alcohol from his hands, looks around her apartment slightly frenziedly, her eyes landing on the couch in inspiration. “Just sit on the couch right there and I’ll make you something hot to drink okay? Why…”  Maya pulls her hand from his shoulder and presses her fingers together before pulling them apart, wrinkling her nose at the feeling. “Why are you sticky?”

“Mo threw her drink at me.” Charlie explains dryly and Maya’s mouth drops open as she starts to gently lead him towards her couch, tucking the grey goose to her body with an arm as she wipes her hand against her pajamas.

“Mo threw her…why would she do that? She can’t just _do that_ , Charlie!” Maya says as she pushes Charlie down to sit, dropping the ice cream carton on the coffee table and the vodka on the floor. Maya has met Mo quite a few times and the girl seemed nice enough from what Maya could tell, seemed to have a bit of a thing for Charlie in fact. And usually Maya tries her best to stay out of other peoples’ romances (Riley doesn’t count of course) but throwing a drink on _Charlie_ of all people?

Charlie is basically a puppy a twenty five year old rock star’s body.

That is _not okay_.

But Charlie shakes his head wobbly, his lips tightening.

“I deserved it.” Charlie whispers and Maya’s brow furrows further as she crouches in front of her friend. Charlie looks Maya in the eyes, his eyes shining in drunken tears as he takes a deep breath. “I did something bad Maya I… I did something _wrong_.”

Maya shakes her head in sympathy, rubs both of her hands gently over her friend arms. “Charlie, whatever you did it can’t be that bad-“

“I told Stella I loved her.” Charlie whisper softly, and Maya freezes, her eyes widening.

“You told _Stella_ you… _Stella_?” Maya asks in disbelief, and Charlie let’s out a sound that is halfway between a laugh and a sob.

“Why does everybody _say_ that?” Charlie asks helplessly, voice cracking with his frustration and Maya feels her heart twinge in pain. “Why _not_ Stella? Who wouldn’t love Stella, she’s _Stella_! Why is it such a big deal that it’s _me_ , what’s so weird about that Maya, _I don’t get it_ -“

“Charlie, Charlie, no!” Maya interrupts, and Charlie’s mouth clicks shut, his eyes wide and sad and Maya feels her confusion soften into empathy. “Sweetie there’s nothing wrong with you liking Stella, or loving Stella it’s just…I mean I always thought that you and Mo were a thing and I think everybody else did too-“

“No, Maya, no, I _liked_ her. Back in high school, when we were younger, and I still like her now cause she’s my friend and she rocks on bass  and always braids my hair and she’s Mo. I’m never not gonna like her! But, but it’s not _like that_ anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time! I, we…” Charlie takes a sobering breath, shakes his head firmly as if to settle his thoughts. After a moment he starts again, looking at Maya in drunken intensity as he speaks. “After Mo got back together with Scott after everything that happened and stuff… I decided to wait for her, you know? Until she didn’t want to be with him anymore and wanted to be with _me_! But then she spent all her time with him, and Wen spent all his time with Olivia and cause everybody was together  me and Stella…well, me and Stella were together!

We were together _all the time_ and she was so cool and funny and stuff and it wasn’t like Mo you know? It was easier. I wasn’t nervous about saying something stupid or her not liking me. She was one of the only people who actually listened to me and thought I was _smart_ and she helped tutor me in my last year to make sure I graduated and she’s my freaking best friend Maya! You know that! She’s the Cowboy my Pancake or whatever! You know what I’m talking about right? I’m over here all the time just like you’re over there all the time and we do everything together just like you walk to him about everything and you get it right? You have to get it! She… she’s a huge part of my life like you with the sheep rider. She’s important to me. She’s the person who I want to be with at the end of the day, the first person I wanna call when something cool happens she’s… She’s _Stella_. How could I not fall in love with her? Everybody paired off together, everybody went to do their own thing and I… I got Stella. I got _Stella_.”

And Charlie whispers Stella’s name like it be the most precious thing in the world and Maya’s heart breaks a little for him because, well.

“What did Stella do when you told her you loved her Charlie?” Maya asks softly, and Charlie’s eyes fall to his lap as he takes a shaky breath.

“Did you know too? Did everybody know and just not tell me, was I the only one out of the loop because that’s _not fair_ Maya, it’s not _fair_ -!” Charlie says shakily, and Maya’s brow furrows in confusion.

“Know what, Charlie-?”

“That he was going to propose tonight!” Charlie snaps, and he’s eyes are big and wet and Maya feels her mouth fall open in surprise. “Did you know?”

“O-of course not! I hate Ray, I don’t talk to him unless under duress-“ Maya stutters and Charlie’s face crumples.

“I’m such an idiot.” Charlie says as he firmly face palms, curling in on himself. “I’m such an idiot, god, I pick the worse night in the world to tell Stel I love her, I somehow led Mo on without knowing it, I don’t know what _‘duress’_ means-“

“Charlie, you’re not an idiot.” Maya assures him kindly but Charlie just crosses her arms over his head, presses his forehead into his knees tightly.

“I must be! Because what else could it be? What does he have that I don’t? He _sucks_ and he’s _conceited_ and he’s _mean_ to everybody but she said yes so there must be _something_ that he’s better at than me, unless it’s everything, it can always be everything-!”

“Charlie, come on, you know that’s not true, you’re amazing!”  Maya insists but Charlie only mutters darkly and drunkenly, his head tucked between his knees. “Hey, look at me. Hey, please Charlie, please?”

But before Maya can convince Charlie of anything there’s a knock at her door. Maya frowns in befuddlement even as she quickly gets up to answer it, pulling the door open without looking through the peephole, which she regrets immediately. After she opens the door, her eyes widen dramatically at the crowd before her, her mouth dropping open. There’s gotta be north of a hundered people her, a sea of them all carrying drinks and speakers and bags of chips and Maya’s mouth works open and closed in shock.

 

“Scuse me, pardon me, out of the way please!” Maya hears a familiar voice shout through the crowd, and she zeroes in on the one form as it pushes through the crowd, the boy stopping in front of her with a bright smile. Maya stares at the twin of the boy on her couch slightly stunned, her gaze flicker between him and faces through the crowd.

“Tyler, what-?” Maya starts but Tyler smirk widens into a grin.

“Charlie called me first, and I figured that this was the first place he’d show up.” Tyler says easily, shrugging. “You’re his only friend outside of the band.”

“That literally explains nothing.” Maya says as she peaks over the doorframe to examine the sea of people down her apartment hallway, feels her stomach sink at the sheer number of them.

_Shit_.

“Oh this? Just a few friends coming over to cheer my adorable baby brother up. As I said, you’re his only friend outside of the band, and no offense, but that’s kind of sad considering you’re his best friends’ neighbor.” Tyler says with a shrug, before brightening again, gesturing to the sea of murmuring people around them. “Plus, somewhere in this crowd is a remedy for a broken heart.”

“Unless the remedy is either Stella, a two to three cartons of Rocky Road or _Taylor Swift_ then I think you’re wrong-“

“Nope, none of the above Maya Moo! Everybody knows that the key to getting over somebody…is to get under somebody else!” Tyler says grinning dazzlingly and Maya grabs him by the collar of the shirt, pulls him nose to nose.

“Call me that again and I’ll end you.” Maya growls, finding satisfaction in the way that Tyler’s eyes bulge. Maya shakes him lightly with fist, points at the crowd. “Get them to leave.”

“No can do Maya, sorry.” Tyler says with a shrug, not looking the least bit apologetic. “I promised them a party. And a party is what they’re gonna get! Come on everybody!”

The crowd roars so loudly that Maya swears the floor vibrates under her feet, and before Maya can even open her mouth the first of them are pushing passed her into her apartment, whooping and hollering and drinking-

_Shit, shit, shit._

“No, no, no, no Tyler, no!” Maya shouts as people push passed her into her apartment. She tries to stop some of them but there’s just too many, and Maya growls in frustration before pulling Tyler’s collar even more tightly as he tries to slip passed. “Tyler I’m going to kill you!”

“Hey, he’s my twin, I know what he wants!” Tyler says with a grin and Maya looks at him in disbelief.

“Tyler he wants _Stella_ not this-“

“Hey, sometimes when you can’t get what you want you have to settle for the next best thing! And sometimes you find that thing at a pity party your twin throws when the girl of your dreams rejects you or sometimes you find it in the pity party you’ve thrown for your twin when the girl of his dreams rejects him and yours has moved on!” Tyler says, his eyes flashing with an emotion that Maya can’t quite read. Maya blinks in confusion, her brow furrowing as Tyler’s eyes widen before he shrugs with false nonchalance. “I mean it could be either of those things really, or anything really, why hasn’t anybody put any music on, I should get on that!”

Tyler squirms out of Maya’s grip along with the crowd pushing passed and Maya throws her hands up into the air in frustration. Her fingers tangle into the hair at the crown of her head and she pulls gently as she groans. She takes a deep breath to calm herself as people continue to shove passed her, puts both hands over her face tiredly and stands in the doorway long after the last of the people have gone through her door, long after the music has started pulsing from inside, long after someone slams the door closed behind them. In fact, Maya doesn’t remove her hands until she hears someone clear their throat carefully. It’s only then that Maya blinks up tiredly, her eyes widening at who’s in front of her.

“Stella.” Maya says bluntly, and Stella smiles awkwardly back, holding up her house keys in a salute, the ring on her ring finger glinting in the fluorescent light of the apartment building. Maya swallows hard.

“Hey.” Stella says uncomfortably, glancing between Maya and the door shut behind her in uncertainty. “Party?”

“No, it’s just…well, yeah, I guess. It’s not mine though. It’s Tyler’s. He didn’t even consult me before organizing it so…”

Stella shrugs, “Sounds like him. Charlie and him might share the same DNA but I’m pretty sure he got the asshole tendencies. You should’ve saw it coming, though, it’s kind of easy to see when he’s up to something. Should have gotten a guard dog or something, or hey, laser alarms! ”

 

Maya feels her lips twitch in response to Stella’s comment, feels the urge to laugh more than she has all night and just like that, she gets it.

_Who wouldn’t love Stella, she’s **Stella**!_

Yeah she gets it.

“Those are both good ideas, and I totally would’ve,” Maya says in amusement, and Stella points at her in agreement, her lips curling. “but… the reason for the party was kind of unexpected …”

The last of her comment ends up coming out awkwardly but Stella just nods in understanding, smiling unhappily.

“Ah. So he’s in there I guess?”

“He had no part in this.” Maya clarifies and Stella snorts.

“Of course not, if he did I would know about it. Charlie likes to think he can keep secrets from me but, surprise, he can’t. You should’ve seen him when he was planning my surprise party for my twentieth. He was a mess!” Stella says with a laugh, gesture to her face with her hands. “Sweat dripping down him whenever we talked to each other, stuttering every other sentence. He tried to hide balloons in his pants!”

Maya laughs in surprise, raising both brows. “You’re kidding?”

“I shit you not, Maya Hart! It was amazing!” Stella says nostalgically, her smile softening as her laughter dies. “But you know what else? He stuck with it. Didn’t cave until it was time for the party. Was so damn proud of himself too…said he was happy to throw my first surprise party.”

Maya watches Stella quietly as Stella’s brows begin to furrow in thought her, her eyes seeming to look right through Maya.

 

“Don’t tell him I knew okay? It’d crush him.” Stella mutters softly as her gaze slowly falls to the floor, her eyes staring at a stain on the carpet.

“I won’t.” Maya says quietly, and Stella blinks out of her revery, shoots Maya a grateful smile in return. Maya smiles back slightly, waves a hand to indicate towards Stella’s form. “Congratulations by the way…”

Stella blinks at Maya in confusion for a moment before seeming to catch sight of the ring and lights up like a light bulb of realization has just gone off over her head.

“Oh, yeah!” Stella says, grinning so brightly that Maya knows it’s fake as she brings her hand up into her line of sight, examining the ring curiously.  Stella shrugs at it before displaying her hand to Maya for her own examination. “Thanks I guess…doesn’t feel like there’s much to celebrate though I mean, this little ring fucked up the friendship that Charlie and I had for years, made Mo cry her eyes out, pretty much ruined any chances of us performing this weekend…well, it might not be totally the rings fault. It might be a bit of mine too. Can’t blame it all on the rock can I?”

“I’m sure that’s not true Stels-“  Maya starts and Stella shakes her head, taking a deep breath as she leans back against the door to her own apartment.

“Nope, no, it’s my fault kid. “ Stella says as she exhales a long breath, stirring her black bangs around her face in the process. “After all, I knew.”

“…You knew?” Maya repeats and Stella nods, giving Maya a regretful half-smile.

“I knew how he felt. And I think I kinda know when he started to feel that way too… I knew that he wasn’t flirting with Mo on purpose. I knew that Ray was going to propose. I knew.” Stella says softly and Maya blinks in slight shock as Stella takes a deep breath. “But I didn’t say anything. I hoped that maybe he and Mo might get together. I hoped that Ray would propose fast. I hoped Charlie wouldn’t say anything about… how he felt and stuff.”

“Why?”

Stella snorts, the sound barely carrying over the pulsing bass of dubstep in Maya’s apartment.

“Me and Charlie? What a joke.” Stella scoffs, and Maya’s hackles start to rise until Stella continues. “Charlie is basically the best person I’ve ever met. Olivia is up there too but…Charlie just sees the world differently. Like it’s all shiny and new and _kind_ , you know? He sees the good in everybody. He’s like the sun or some shit. He’s beautiful inside and out and he deserves somebody _like him_. Someone like Mo or… or _Angelina Jolie_ , you know? Not _me_. I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing I could do to deserve Charlie Delgada…”

“You don’t earn people Stella.” Maya says softly, and Stella looks up at Maya curiously, frowns in consideration before she shrugs halfheartedly. Maya swallows hard, looks at her neighbor’s solemn face before speaking. “Do you love him?”

Stella laughs unhappily, flicking her hair out of her face with a snap of her neck. She sniffles wetly before using her ring hand to rub quickly at her nose. “I have honestly never thought about it. Been too busy trying to stop _him_ from loving _me_.”

“Why would you…? He loves you _so much_ Stel…” Maya says softly and Stella shakes her head, pushes off from the door to start to fumblingly try to open it.

“Sometimes Maya, that isn’t all there is to think about. Charlie and me get together? Mo’s heart breaks, Ray’s heart breaks, _my_ heart breaks, because as much as no one can believe it, I _do_ love that asshole. Ray’s a dick and I know that but I care about him. I _do_. Why would I say yes if I didn’t? You can love more than one person at once. You _can_ , because the heart is big enough for that, can hold that and more, so why is it so unbelievable for me to love both of them? So what if I don’t love Ray as much? It’s still love! They’re different kinds of love too, why can’t anybody get that?” Stella asks as she fumbles irritably with the keys, trying to shove it into the keyhole through her rage. “Kid, look, sometimes in life you find somebody who you love _too much_ , you know? Too much to make out with them and fuck it up, too much to risk it all for something that could end, too much to even admit to yourself! Too much to ruin their lives too, because you mean just as much to them as they do to you, let’s not forget that! If me and Charlie go south? He’s going to miss me just as much as I miss him, and it’s going to hurt both of us like nothing else! And what do you know? Two more broken hearts added to the pile! Neither of us wins in the end so what’s even the point? It’s not worth it! _Nothing_ is worth losing him, okay, nothing!”

Maya watches Stella with wide eyes as she pants after her outburst, door finally unlocked and eyes shining as she shakes her head.

“Honestly, Maya, all I want now is for things to go back to how they were before. Because love can fade. People fall out of love every day, every minute I bet. It happens all the time and there are freaking statistics and horror stories but you know what? A bond like the one me and Charlie have? A bond like the one you and that Luke kid have?” Stella asks softly, leaning her forehead against the door. “That shit is supposed to last forever and I just lost it over a stupid fucking ring!”

Maya doesn’t even have time to reply or blink in the time it takes for Stella to go into the apartment, flinches at the sound of the door slamming. Maya stands there for a silent moment, watching Stella’s door shake as something thuds against it from the other side, feeling her stomach fill with cold dread as she comes to a realization.

She can’t do it.

She _can’t_.

.

.

Maya rushes back into her apartment, pushing passed the crowds of people towards her bedroom. On the way there she spots Charlie, curled up on her kitchen floor pouring grey goose into his Rocky Road with one hand as he wipes aways his tears with the other. As she moves through the space she also and sees Tyler in her living room, by the speakers and some kid brought with him holding-

Holding her painting.

It’s the new one she’s been working on, the one of Lucas’ profile, a painting done from nothing but memory. She has no plans for what she wanted to do with it, only that she wanted it, wanted to put her feelings into something tangible, wanting to make something beautiful from emotions that were beginning to bring her pain and now-

 

Now the canvas is ripped and the wet paint is smudged and, it’s ruined.

Completely broken.

And Maya was never one to believe in superstition but she knows a sign when she sees one.

Maya stares at the wrecked painting long enough for her eyes to get hot, looks up at Tyler blankly as he says something she can’t hear over the music but can just  about make out with lip reading.

_Maya, I’m so sorry._

And she knows that he’s not talking about what Maya has just decided to do, not talking about what she’s lost or rather what she’s giving away for the greater good, what she’s trading her best chance at keeping bright light, her _sun_.

But it seems fitting anyways.

Maya says nothing in return, only continues to shove her way to her room, pushing everyone she can out of the way. When she pushes through the threshold to her bedroom she locks the door after her, grabs her phone off her bedspread swiftly before climbing up onto her vanity to grab that canvas off of her wall. She looks at it with mixed emotions for a long moment, thinking of Riley-and-Farkle and Fletcher-and-Avery and Stella-and-Charlie and _Lucas_.

Always Lucas.

Is it worth it? Is all of that worth the possibility of losing him?

Maya isn’t sure, but one thing she’s pretty sure of is that it’s probably easier to give up something you’ve never had instead of something you’d do anything to keep.

And so she’s letting go.

Tonight.

.

.

Maya stumbled down six flights of a fire escape, walked barefoot down a New York sidewalk, got splashed by a taxi, got hit on by a homeless man (who she gave the last of her paycheck), lost her subway pass down a sewage drain, snuck on a subway in result, and finally, to top it all off, got hassled by a doorman.

All just to get to this swanky apartment building where the buyer lives.

This guy better pay as much as he said he would.

Maya raps on the door firmly, pulling back and tucking her canvas under her arm as she blows a stray piece of hair out of her face impatiently. Her foot taps idly she waits, glancing around the posh apartment building with uninterestedly puckered lips. This guy’s apartment must be bigger than the entirely of Maya and Stella’s floor and, from the stuffiness of the doorman, he must be pretty important.

Good. All the more likely that he’s going to take Paper Bars and jet off to some foreign country somewhere where Maya will not be tempted to sneak into his loft and steal it back from him.

This is not because she has an issue with stealing particularly, but because, well…

Plane tickets to foreign countries are expensive.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” A voice snaps as the door opens, and Maya raises her brow to see a handsome dark haired guy in a robe staring back at her. The guy seems to be surprised to see her too because his eyes widen tenfold as he looks her over, his mouth dropping open slightly. “Um…hi.”

“Hi.” Maya replies with a tight smile, holding up the canvas pointedly and manipulating the guys attention to the painting.  Maya shakes the canvas playfully as she says,“Delivery! I take cash or cheques with a side of subway fare.”

“Subway fare?” He replies in confusion, his eyes lighting up with recognition at the painting. Maya shrugs.

“A girl’s gotta get back home somehow. Not all of us have chauffeurs and doormen.” Maya says with a raised brow and the guys raises one right back, his lips curling into a smile.

“Touché.” He says, taking the canvas from Maya’s hands and examining the painting brightly. “This is literally perfect, she’s going to love it!”

“Present for your girlfriend?” Maya asks, trying hard not to be interested but failing. This painting is important to her, has been important to her for over a year. It’s been the first thing she saw when she woke up and one of the last things she saw when she went to bed for a long time and that means something. She wants to know who it ends up with. She wants to make sure whoever it is appreciates it, most of all.

“No, my sister.” The Swanky Guy replies as he studies the painting in awe. He glances away from the canvas to look to Maya pointedly. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Maya’s brow furrows even as her lips curl. She squints at the guy curiously, and tilts her head slightly.

Is Mr. Swanky flirting with her?

“Well, sorry about that.” Maya replies with a shrug, testing the waters cautiously, and she’s pleased when the guy laughs in surprise, his eyes crinkling attractively at the corners.

“Thanks, it keeps me up at night sometimes.” He responds and Maya’s own lips curl into a wider grin. He puts the painting down at his feet, and begins to rummage through a coat on a nearby coat rack as he speaks. “So, are you the artist?”

“The one and only.” Maya replies as she watches him pull out his wallet. He glances up at her as he opens it, looking her up and down curiously.

“Maya Hart.”

“Yup.” Maya pops the ‘p’ slightly and The Swanky Guy’s grin seemed to widen as he begins counting bills in his wallet.

“Well, first of all with art like this? You are way too good to be taking the subway.” He says as he pulls out the bills from his wallet. Maya raises a brow, accepting the money with a smile.

“Thanks, but it’s either that or walking so…” Maya shrugs, and Mr. Swanky smiles in response.

“What, you’re boyfriend’s catching up on beauty sleep right now? Too tired to drive his gorgeous artist girlfriend to her deliveries?” Swanky asks smoothly, and Maya huffs a laugh, grins in amusement at the guy’s efforts.

“Smooth.” Maya says, wrinkling her nose at Swanky teasingly and Swanky only shrugs.

“I try.” He says with a grin. Maya narrows her eyes at him a bit, waits to see if he’ll sweat or back down under her gaze, but he doesn’t so much as twitch, only tilts his head charmingly, stares right back at her.

Well then.

“No boyfriend.” Maya says calmly, and the guy’s eyebrows jump up and down as he leans against the doorframe suavely.

“What a coincidence, have I mentioned that I also am uninvolved?” He asks, his voice deepening as he smirks exaggeratedly, and Maya grins in mirth.

“Yes.”

“Should I mention it again?” He asks in the same manner and Maya huffs a laugh despite herself which makes the guys eyes twinkle brightly as he bites his lip.

“Have you _not_ noticed that I’m covered in street water, as well as barefoot?” Maya asks as she gestures to her body with a hand, shoving the money into her butt pocket. Swanky looks Maya up and down, his gaze pausing on Maya’s bare toes as he frowns in a mock of consideration. Maya wiggles her toes playfully and Swanky’s lips twitch into a grin as he shrugs.

“What can I say?” He says easily, smirking warmly. “It works for you.”

“That and the fact that I’ve come to your house at three in the morning…” Maya lets the sentence trail off, and Swanky is quick to jump in.

“Surprisingly, I _don’t mind_ waking up to you.” Swanky points out and Maya raises a brow that he smiles widely in response to. “Shocking, I know. I mean look at you, you’re hideous.”

“Great start there.”

“You make me nervous.” Swanky says confidently, and Maya snorts.

“Is that why you haven’t mentioned your name yet?”

The guy flushes slightly in embarrassment, the first crack in his certainty since just after he opened the door. His smile edges on goofy as he holds out his hand for her to shake. “Gabe Duncan, entrepreneur, Capricorn, into you, and would really like to take you out sometime soon. Also, side note, _not_ a serial killer. Just thought I would throw that in there, in case you were throwing that thought around, you know, in your head.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Great!” Gabe says with false cheer as he laughs, and Maya feels her own lips twitching in response to his laughter. “So now that I’ve sufficiently embarrassed myself…dinner?”

And Maya opens her mouth to respond, and is ready to say no. She’s ready to leave the posh apartment building and the attractive entrepreneur Gabe Duncan and the Paper Bars and just all of it but then-

_Hey, sometimes when you can’t get what you want you have to settle for the next best thing!_

_You can love more than one person at once. You can, because the heart is big enough for that, can hold that and more, so why is it so unbelievable for me to love both of them? So what if I don’t love Ray as much? It’s still **love**!_

Maya tells herself this is not a rebound. It’s a step forward. A step in the right direction.

A step away from the one thing that could destroy what she has with Lucas.

She’s protecting what she cares about most.

_It’s easier to give up something you’ve never had than something you’ll do anything to keep._

So Maya takes a deep breath, pushes the thoughts of Lucas to the very back of her mind and shrugs, her lips twisting into a smile as she says, “Yeah, alright.”

And Gabe blinks as if startled, mouth falling open ever so slightly as he stares at Maya in shock. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Why would you ask me out if you didn’t think I’d say yes?” Maya says with a huff of laughter and Gabe gaps.

“Have you ever _tried_ not asking you out?” Gabe asks, blinking in surprise as he looks at Maya as if seeing her for the first time. “It’s very difficult, near impossible. That is scientifically proven I swear.”

“You don’t get a lot of dates do you?” Maya asks bluntly, and Gabe doesn’t even hesitate.

“No I do not.”

Maya nods slowly, hums in thought. “Well that works out, because I don’t go on a lot of dates.”

Gabe’s grin spreads over his features slowly, his amusement clear. “Match made in heaven.”

“Maybe.” Maya says warily and Gabe only shrugs, glances at Maya feet fleetingly.

“Hey, you want some socks?”

“Oh, god yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> It ‘tis done! So, I hope you liked the little touches I added in there! Zeke and Ryan’s baby boy is in this fic, his name is Camden and he is adorable in my mind. The idea of Newt and Chelsea getting together and having cute little babies also makes me very happy! :) I’m very proud of the scene between Riley and MAya in this fic, because I feel like the dynamic between them in this is similar to the one they have in the show and that pleases me.
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> I also popped in some Charlie x Stella because I couldn’t help myself. No word of a lie, they were my disney otp before Lucaya, which makes no sense I know, because they hardly interacted in the movie, but two years ago I loved them with a passion! I even wrote fics for them that are still on my hard drive that I have actually never posted, like it was that serious. So tearing them apart in this fic was definitely interesting, as well as writing the two of them again! Gosh I missed them so much! If anybody is interested in my Chella fics let me know and I’ll post them :)
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> Writing Maya flirting with somebody who isn’t Lucas is hella weird tbh. But that bit is necessary not just for this fic but for THE SPINOFF! Oh yeah! Woop woop! The spinoff is coming super soon after I finish all of GGYH which will be super soon because there is only one more chapter left guys! I know, I can hardly believe it either!
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> This is only part 3 though so we’ve got one more to get through but yay! Sorry this is up so late btw, there were a lot of complications from the writing stage to the editing stage and the writing stage was a horror in itself! But anywaysI hope you okay liked the chapter! This one is dedicated to hurhuurr because her birthday is on Sunday and she’s such a sweetheart! Check her out at that link there or at yelowpages where she posts super pretty stuff all the time as well as one d stuff if you’re into that! Alright, well, I’m gonna go! Talk to you guys soon okay? :)

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, this was utterly self indulgent. I pretty much put the only the Disney shows that I watch in here and iCarly so…
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> Also, yes, that scene in the airport is inspired by Love, Rosie. It was a dang good movie.
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> p.s. I actually really like Missy and she was half the inspiration for this story. I hope you enjoyed my depiction of her!
> 
> ... I'm just going to leave this here: http://rangerhuckleberry.tumblr.com/


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